Demonstrators march during a "Bring them home" rally for Israeli hostages in New York City. Photo / Charly Triballeau, AFP
US President Donald Trump has declared the Gaza war “over” as he headed to the region to host a peace summit, while Hamas prepared to release surviving hostages after two years in captivity.
Under the US President’s proposed roadmap, once the Palestinian militants have handed over the hostages, Israel will begin releasing around 2000 detainees in exchange.
But negotiators were still wrangling late on Sunday (local time) over the final arrangements, with two Hamas sources telling AFP the group was insisting that Israel include seven senior Palestinian leaders on the list of those to be released.
A confident Trump told reporters travelling with him that “the war is over” as he took off from Washington for “a very special” trip.
The US leader is due to arrive in Israel shortly after the expected release and will address the Israeli Parliament, before heading to Egypt to host a meeting of world leaders to back his plan to end the two-year-old Gaza war and promote Middle East peace.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Together we achieved tremendous victories, victories that amazed the whole world ... But at the same time I must tell you, the fight is not over.”
“This is an emotional evening, an evening of tears, an evening of joy, because tomorrow our children will return to our borders,” Netanyahu said, quoting a biblical verse.
Israel’s army chief, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, also claimed victory.
“The military pressure we applied over the past two years, together with complementary diplomatic measures, constitute a victory over Hamas,” Zamir said.
Shosh Bedrosian, a spokeswoman for Netanyahu’s office, said the hostage release was to begin early on Monday (local time), with Israel “expecting all 20 of our living hostages to be released together at one time”.
A senior Israeli military official, however, told reporters: “Unfortunately ... we anticipate that not all fallen hostages will be returned tomorrow.”
Bedrosian earlier said an “international body” would be set up to locate the remains of those not returned as part of the exchange.
“Palestinian prisoners will be released once Israel has confirmation that all of our hostages set to be released tomorrow are across the border into Israel,” Bedrosian said.
Two Hamas sources, meanwhile, told AFP the group was insisting Israel free seven prominent Palestinian figures as part of the exchange – at least one of whom Israel has previously refused to release.
The source said that the group and its allies had nevertheless “completed all preparations” for handing over all the living hostages to Israel.
Under the plan, Hamas is to release the remaining 47 hostages – living and dead – who were abducted on October 7, 2023, during a cross-border Hamas attack that left 1219 people dead, most of them civilians, and triggered Israel’s devastating campaign.
Hamas is also expected to hand over the remains of a soldier killed in 2014 during a previous Gaza war.
Among the Palestinian prisoners to be released, 250 are security detainees, including many convicted of killing Israelis, while about 1700 were detained by the Israeli Army in Gaza during the war.
After his Israel visit, Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will chair a summit of leaders from more than 20 countries in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said he will attend, as have leaders from Britain, Italy, Spain, France and King Abdullah of Jordan.
No Israeli nor Hamas officials will be present, officials from both camps confirmed.
The third day of the ceasefire saw some aid trucks cross into Gaza, but residents in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Strip, said some shipments were being ransacked by starving residents in chaotic scenes that saw food parcels trampled.
For Mahmud al-Muzain, a bystander, the scuffle showed that Gazans did not trust that the US-led negotiations would lead to a long-term peace.
“Everyone fears the war will return,” he told AFP. “We stockpile food out of fear and worry that the war will come back.”
In Israel, the mother of 25-year-old hostage Matan Zangauker described her intense longing.
“My emotions are immense, there are no words to describe them – for me, for us, for all of Israel, which wants the hostages home and waits to see them all return,” Einav Zangauker said.
Hamas has over the past two years suffered staggering losses including the killing of its top leaders both in Gaza and in exile.
But the movement has not been crushed and a source close to its negotiating committee told AFP that while it would not participate in post-war Gaza governance, it will not lay down its weapons.
Under the Trump plan, as Israel conducts a partial withdrawal from Gaza, it will be replaced by a multi-national force co-ordinated by a US-led command centre in Israel.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,806 people, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.
The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.
– Agence France-Presse