Folks stroll close to a U.S. flag hanging on a constructing, forward of an official go to by U.S. President Donald Trump, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Jerusalem, on Oct. 12, 2025.
Ronen Zvulun | Reuters
Israel stated Sunday that it anticipated all the residing hostages held within the Gaza Strip to be launched Monday, confirming the following section of the breakthrough ceasefire cope with Hamas, as Palestinians awaited a long-promised surge of support deliveries into the enclave.
The small print emerged because the area ready for U.S. President Donald Trump to go to Israel and Egypt — the newest within the swift flurry of developments for the reason that ceasefire was introduced final week, providing hope for an finish to the two-year warfare.
“We expect all 20 of our residing hostages to be launched collectively at one time to the Pink Cross and transported amongst six to eight automobiles,” Israeli authorities spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian stated, noting that Israel didn’t anticipate militants to stage the exchanges in the identical method as earlier rounds.
Bedrosian stated the hostages will likely be pushed to a army base to reunite with their households or, if wanted, instantly to a hospital.
After the hostages are freed, Israel was able to launch about 2,000 Palestinian detainees and obtain the 28 hostages believed to be useless. The army deliberate to carry a ceremony on their behalf in Gaza, Bedrosian added.
The useless are anticipated to be transferred to the Institute of Forensic Drugs for identification.
A world process drive will begin working to find deceased hostages who should not returned throughout the 72-hour interval, stated Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for the Hostages and the Lacking.
Officers have stated the seek for the our bodies of hostages, a few of which can be buried beneath rubble, might take time.
In the meantime on Gaza’s borders, preparations have been underway to ramp up support getting into the war-battered territory. The Israeli army physique answerable for humanitarian support in Gaza stated the quantity of support getting into the Palestinian territory was anticipated to extend Sunday to round 600 vans per day, as stipulated within the settlement.
Egypt stated it was sending 400 support vans into Gaza on Sunday. Related Press footage confirmed dozens of vans crossing the Egyptian facet of the Rafah border crossing. The Egyptian Pink Crescent stated the automobiles carried medical provides, tents, blankets, meals and gasoline. The vans will head to the inspection space within the Kerem Shalom crossing for screening by Israeli troops.
Increasing Israeli offensives and restrictions on humanitarian support have triggered a starvation disaster, together with famine in elements of the territory.
The United Nations has stated it has about 170,000 metric tons of meals, drugs and different humanitarian support able to enter as soon as Israel provides the inexperienced mild.
Abeer Etifa, a spokeswoman for the World Meals Program, stated employees have been clearing and repairing roads Sunday inside Gaza to make means for the deliveries.
Gaza Humanitarian Fund’s future in query
The destiny of the Gaza Humanitarian Basis, an Israeli- and U.S.-backed contractor that changed the U.N. support operation in Could as the first meals provider in Gaza, remained unclear.
Meals-distribution websites operated by the group within the southernmost metropolis of Rafah and central Gaza have been dismantled following the ceasefire deal, a number of Palestinians stated Sunday.
The GHF had been touted by Israel and america instead system to stop Hamas from taking on support. Nonetheless, its operations have been mired in chaos, and a whole lot of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire whereas heading to its 4 websites. The Israeli army has stated its troops fired warning photographs to regulate crowds.
A drone view reveals Palestinians standing close to rubble following the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the world, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza Metropolis, on Oct. 12, 2025.
Dawoud Abu Alkas | Reuters
A GHF consultant stated in an announcement that some distribution websites is likely to be quickly closed throughout the switch of hostages to Israel, however “there isn’t a change to our long-term plan.”
The U.N. company for Palestinian refugees, which has the equal of 6,000 vans of support ready outdoors in Egypt and Jordan, additionally had no readability on its function within the scaled-up reduction effort. A spokesperson for the company often called UNRWA, Jonathan Fowler, stated the group was “standing prepared” to contribute and has sufficient meals in its warehouses for the complete Gaza Strip inhabitants for 3 months.
Preparations for Trump’s go to
Trump, who pushed to clinch the ceasefire deal, is predicted to reach Monday morning in Israel. He’ll meet with households of the hostages and communicate on the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in accordance with a schedule launched by the White Home.
Trump will then proceed to Egypt, the place the workplace of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has stated he’ll co-chair a “peace summit” Monday with regional and worldwide leaders.
Timing has not but been introduced for the discharge of the Palestinian prisoners held in Israel who’re to be freed beneath the deal. They embrace 250 individuals serving life sentences along with 1,700 individuals seized from Gaza throughout the warfare and held with out cost.
Dr. Mounir al-Boursh, head of the Well being Ministry in Gaza, stated he hopes the our bodies of medical personnel who died in Israeli detention facilities will likely be amongst these handed over. He known as for the discharge of two medical doctors who have been detained from Gaza throughout the warfare.
Gaza residents return dwelling
Palestinians continued to maneuver again to areas vacated by Israeli forces Sunday, though many have been returning to houses decreased to rubble.
Satellite tv for pc photographs taken Saturday and analyzed by The Related Press confirmed a line of automobiles touring north to Gaza Metropolis alongside the strip’s shoreline. Tents alongside the coast additionally might be seen close to Gaza Metropolis’s marina, the place many have been residing to keep away from Israeli bombardment of the town.
Armed police in Gaza Metropolis and southern Gaza patrolled the streets and secured support vans driving by means of areas from which the Israeli army had withdrawn, residents stated. The police drive is a part of the Hamas-run Inside Ministry.
The ministry stated in an announcement Sunday that it might permit members of armed gangs not concerned within the killing of Palestinians to show themselves in as early as Monday, “repent and be pardoned.” As for others, it famous some gangs took benefit of the scenario to hold out out extrajudicial actions.
The pause in combating allowed first responders to look beforehand inaccessible areas for our bodies buried beneath rubble. Well being officers stated 233 our bodies have been recovered and dropped at hospitals since Friday, when the truce went into impact.
Yasser el-Bureis, who was on the morgue in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, stated Sunday that he and his kinfolk had lastly retrieved the our bodies of his two cousins killed months earlier as they tried to flee their houses.
“For 5 months, we did not handle to get better the our bodies,” he stated.
Hospitals have run brief on provides for each the residing and the useless, together with physique luggage.
Devastation from 2 years of warfare
The warfare started when Hamas-led militants launched a shock assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, through which some 1,200 individuals have been killed and 250 taken hostage.
In Israel’s ensuing offensive, greater than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, in accordance with Gaza’s Well being Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants however says round half the deaths have been ladies and kids.
The warfare has destroyed massive swaths of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its 2 million residents. It has additionally triggered different conflicts within the area, sparked worldwide protests and led to allegations of genocide that Israel denies.
Whereas each Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza welcomed the preliminary halt to the combating and plans to launch the hostages and prisoners, the longer-term destiny of the ceasefire stays murky. Key questions on governance of Gaza and the post-war destiny of Hamas have but to be resolved.
Israeli Protection Minister Israel Katz stated on X that he had instructed the army to arrange to start destroying the community of tunnels constructed by Hamas beneath Gaza “by means of the worldwide mechanism that will likely be established beneath the management and supervision of the U.S.” as soon as the hostages are launched.