JERUSALEM:
A Red Cross convoy is on its way to pick up a first batch of Israeli hostages to be freed by Hamas as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal, the Israeli military said Monday.
An army statement said the handover would take place at “a meeting point in the northern Gaza Strip where several hostages will be transferred”.
“The IDF is prepared to receive additional hostages who are expected to be transferred to the Red Cross later on,” it added after Hamas’s armed wing published a list of 20 surviving hostages it intends to release.
The hostages named by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades on its Telegram channel are among 48 captives — both living and deceased — held by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
