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Latest developments in the Gaza ceasefire / Photo: © AFP
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Latest developments in the Gaza ceasefire
A Red Cross convoy was on its way to pick up a first group of Israeli hostages to be freed by Hamas as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal, the Israeli military said Monday.
US President Donald Trump has departed on a trip to Israel and Egypt, where he will co-host a Gaza peace summit with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
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 war.
Hamas's armed wing on Monday confirmed that it was preparing to release the living hostages and published a list of 20 names and shortly afterwards, Israel's military said the Red Cross was on its way to pick up the first Gaza hostages.
An army statement said the handover would take place at "a meeting point in the northern Gaza Strip where several hostages will be transferred".
Israel expects all 20 living hostages to be released to the Red Cross "early Monday morning", according to a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, ahead of a midday (0900 GMT) deadline under the terms of the ceasefire agreement proposed by Trump.
Netanyahu's spokesperson said the prisoners 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.
- Gaza summit -
Trump and Sisi will chair the Gaza peace summit of more than 20 world leaders on Monday in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh.
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.
A diplomatic source said mediators the US, Egypt, Qatar and likely Turkey would sign a guarantee document during the summit.
But neither of the warring parties will attend, with Netanyahu's office saying no Israeli officials would take part, following earlier confirmation from Hamas that it would not send representatives.
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.
burs-csp/ser
F. Dumont--BTZ
