The final 20 surviving Israeli hostages returned on Monday from Gaza to Israel in two separate groups, as part of a deal for the Palestinian territory.
US President Donald Trump arrived in Israel for a trip which will also take him to Egypt, where he will co-host a Gaza summit with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The following are the latest key developments:
– Hostage-prisoner exchange –
The Gaza peace deal hinges on both sides adhering to an agreement to exchange hostages seized from Israel in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
The initial stage of the ceasefire deal includes the release of 47 Israeli living and dead hostages taken on October 7, 2023 in exchange for 250 prisoners and 1,700 Gazans held by Israel since the war broke out.
Hamas is also expected to hand over the remains of a soldier killed in 2014 during a previous Gaza conflict.
Israel confirmed all 20 hostages had returned to the country after the Israeli military said a second group of 13 hostages had been transferred to the Red Crescent in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
An AFP journalist reported several buses were seen leaving Israel’s Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank as Palestinian prisoners were due for release as part of the accord.
On Saturday, the Israeli prison service said it had gathered the prisoners at Ofer to be released in the exchange.
Hamas’s armed wing on Monday published a list of 20 names, and shortly afterwards militants handed over the first seven hostages to Red Cross representatives in Gaza City.
Israel’s foreign ministry posted on X, identifying the released captives as Matan Angrest, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Elkana Bohbot, Rom Braslavski, Nimrod Cohen, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa Dalal, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, Yosef Haim Ohana, Alon Ohel, Avinatan Or and Matan Zangauker.
Hamas had until a midday (0900 GMT) deadline to release the living hostages under the terms of the ceasefire agreement proposed by Trump.
Netanyahu’s spokesperson said the Palestinian detainees would be “released once Israel has confirmation that all of our hostages set to be released tomorrow are across the border into Israel”.
Israel does not expect all of the dead hostages to be returned on Monday.
“Our struggle is not over. It will not end until the last hostage is located and returned for proper burial,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
– Gaza summit –
Trump and Sisi will chair the Gaza summit of more than 20 world leaders on Monday in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh with Netanyahu joining the meeting, the Egyptian presidency announced, as a last-minute addition.
The US leader arrived in Israel aboard Air Force One ahead of the meet Monday, to be greeted on the red carpet at Ben Gurion airport by Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, before travelling on to give a speech at Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.
The gathering aims “to end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and usher in a new era of regional security and stability”, the Egyptian president’s office said.
On Sunday, the Egyptian foreign ministry said a “document ending the war in the Gaza Strip” was expected to be signed during the “historic” gathering.
According to three diplomatic sources, mediators the US, Egypt, Qatar and likely Turkey would sign a guarantee document during the summit.
After earlier confirmation from Hamas that it would not send representatives, the Egyptian presidency announced Netanyahu’s presence at “the peace summit in which Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will also participate”.
Among those expected to attend are UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Canada will also be represented by its Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Egypt has said 21 nations will take part, with representation also expected from the EU and Arab League, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, Indonesia, India and Germany, among others.
Iran said Monday that neither its President Masoud Pezeshkian nor foreign minister Abbas Araghchi will attend, after confirming that it received an invitation.
– Hamas post-war role –
A Hamas source close to the group’s negotiating committee told AFP on Sunday that it would not participate in governing post-war Gaza.
The source, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said the Islamist movement has “relinquished control of the Strip”, but stressed it “remains a fundamental part of the Palestinian fabric”.
“Hamas agrees to a long-term truce, and for its weapons not to be used at all during this period, except in the event of an Israeli attack on Gaza,” the source said.
Another Hamas official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, earlier told AFP the militant group’s disarmament was “out of the question”.
– Aid heads for Gaza –
More than 200 trucks carrying aid destined for Gaza, including six diesel fuel trucks and five carrying cooking gas, were unloaded on Sunday at the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Palestinian territory, according to an AFP reporter who also saw the empty vehicles return to the Egyptian side.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured back into a shattered Gaza City on Saturday, a day after the guns fell silent.
Gaza’s civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas’s authority, said more than 500,000 people had returned by Saturday evening.
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