The first seven Israeli hostages captured by Hamas on October 7, 2023, have been handed over by Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as part of a deal aimed at ending the Gaza war, the Associated Press (AP) reported, citing the Israeli government.
The release of the last 20 living Israeli hostages, followed by the handover of bodies of the remaining 28 dead hostages, is the first step of a peace plan brokered by President Donald Trump aimed at finally ending the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas after two years of fighting.
There was no immediate word on the condition of the seven.
Twenty living hostages are being handed back back by Hamas to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and then on to Israeli authorities, at three points on the border with Gaza, Israeli media reported. They will immediately be taken for medical checks.
Several thousand people gathered in central Tel Aviv, at a place known as Hostages Square, cheered the news of the handover.
Hamas took about 250 hostages and killed some 1,200 people in October 2023. Over the past two years, Hamas released 148 hostages, eight of whom were dead, according to the AP.
Since October 2023, Israel’s ground and air offensives in Gaza have displaced more than 2 million people and killed more than 67,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
The deal brokered by Trump will see the remaining hostages – dead or alive – released back into Israel as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) partially withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
The plan marks the most substantial effort yet toward a lasting agreement, after earlier deals yielded only temporary cease-fires. Trump has been applauded by Israelis and Palestinians, as well as world leaders, for his efforts.
Trump will arrive in Israel on Monday and he is due to meet families of hostages and address the Knesset, or parliament.
He then travels to Egypt, where he and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi will oversee a meeting in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh with leaders from more than 20 countries on peace in Gaza and the broader Middle East.
Representatives of the two protagonists – Israel and Hamas – are not expected to be at the gathering in Egypt.
