Key events
Live TV shows three International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) vehicles have arrived in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip. Crowds have gathered around the vehicles as they drive slowly towards the stage area where Hamas fighters are lined up.
ICRC team on way to collect Israeli hostages from Hamas
A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza are on the way to collect Israeli hostages from Hamas, an official involved in the operation told Reuters.
Since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire took effect on 19 January, 13 Israeli or dual-national hostages have been freed, along with five Thai hostages released outside of the deal for the first stage.
A total of 33 hostages – eight of whom Israel says are dead – are set to be released during the first 42-day phase of the deal in exchange for about 1,900 Palestinians held by Israel, as AFP reports.
The fate of the remaining children held in Gaza – Kfir Bibas and his brother Ariel – as well as their mother, Shiri, remain unknown.
The BBC has some more information about the 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees expected to be released by Israel on Saturday in the fifth exchange of the current ceasefire.
The Israel Prison Service says it has received a list of prisoners that are expected to be released today but has not publicised the names on that list.
The prisoners will be taken to reception centres in the Ofer and Ktziot prisons, where they will be held until the Israeli hostages are released, the prison service says.
Some prisoners will then be driven to a release point in the occupied West Bank, with others taken to the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza.
As part of the ceasefire deal, Israel has agreed to release 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, including some who are detained without charge.
There are pictures coming in of people gathering in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv and waiting to watch a live stream of Hamas’s expected release of three Israeli captives this morning.
A convoy of Red Cross vehicles is heading to a hostage handover location in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, the Times of Israel has quoted an Israeli defence official as saying.
Hamas is to hand over the three Israeli hostages to the Red Cross. As posted earlier, they will then be brought to Israel Defence Forces troops in Gaza and be escorted out of the strip.
A small crowd has gathered at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, which will only grow as the release of Ohad Ben Ami, Or Levy and Eli Sharabi draws closer, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper is reporting.
The people are holding signs with posters of the three hostages, and one is holding a homemade sign reading “I’m sorry that it took so long, welcome back”.
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Hamas said only 8,500 trucks out of the 12,000 that should have arrived so far had entered the territory, most containing food and secondary goods including chips and chocolate instead of more urgent items.
In addition, only 10% of the 200,000 tents and 60,000 caravans needed to provide shelter had arrived, Hamas said, leaving hundreds of thousands in harsh winter weather.
Finally, heavy machinery needed to clear millions of tonnes of rubble and recover the thousands of bodies thought to be buried had not arrived.
Israel has rejected accusations that it is dragging its feet on enabling the entry to aid supplies as “a completely unfounded claim”, saying it has allowed in thousands of trucks, including tents and shelters, Reuters reports.
Israeli military agency Cogat said more than 100,000 tents had entered Gaza since the agreement came into force last month and that caravans were also being allowed in, while tractors had entered from Egypt since Sunday.
However, hundreds of thousands of people are still marooned in tents and other makeshift shelters worn out by months of use as fighting raged last year.
More here on Hamas’s claim that Israel has breached the ceasefire agreement in relation to aid delivery. The accusation – denied by Israel – led the militant group to delay releasing the names of the three Israeli hostages set to be released on Saturday until after a 4pm (1400 GMT) deadline had passed.
It was not immediately clear whether the delay would affect the scheduled exchange, Reuters reports.
Hamas accused Israel of delaying the entry of hundreds of trucks carrying food and other humanitarian supplies agreed under the truce deal that took effect on 19 January, and holding back all but a fraction of the tents and mobile homes needed to provide shelter to people returning to their bombed-out homes.
“This demonstrates clear manipulation of relief and shelter priorities,” Hamas said in a statement.
Cogat, the Israeli military agency overseeing the aid deliveries into Gaza, denied the accusation and warned that Israel would “not tolerate violations by Hamas”.
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Andrew Roth
When Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington this week, his first stop was to meet evangelical Christian leaders, who have cheered on Israel in the war in Gaza in an alliance with the country’s pro-settler rightwing government. For both constituencies, Israel’s right to annex the occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank is a matter of faith and, they hope, a matter of time.
Both constituencies cheered this week as Donald Trump announced his half-baked plan to “take over” Gaza, an idea he had only tinkered with before Tuesday evening, when it tumbled out to the obvious surprise of his closest aides.
While most observers were shocked that the US president was in effect advocating for the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip, the conservative alliance of Israel and the United States sees an opportunity to accelerate the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and its eventual annexation.
For Andrew Roth’s full analysis, click here:
Today’s expected release of another three Israeli hostages comes against the backdrop of uncertainty over the Israel-Hamas ceasefire after US president Donald Trump’s surprise announcement this week that he envisions the US taking over Gaza, moving Palestinians to other countries, and developing the territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
“We’re in no rush on it,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday, referring to his Gaza plan.
Still, as Reuters reports, it underlined the fragility of the deal reached last month with Egyptian and Qatari mediators and backed by the US.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed Trump’s vision for Gaza as a “remarkable” plan, but it was immediately rejected by Arab countries, Palestinian groups including Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, and many Gazans, who said they would rebuild their homes and restaurants themselves.
However, Israeli leaders have repeated the line that Gazans who wish should be able to leave and defence minister Israel Katz ordered the army on Thursday to prepare a plan to allow for the departure of Gaza residents who wanted to go.
Photograph: Lenin Nolly/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
The Israel Defence Forces expects Hamas to release the three hostages starting around 10am local time Saturday – about an hour and a half away – from one location in central Gaza, the Times of Israel has quoted an Israeli defence official as saying.
Hamas has been setting up a stage for the handover to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah.
The Times reports all three hostages will be escorted out of Gaza by IDF troops to an army facility near Re’im, where they will undergo an initial physical and mental check-up and meet their families.
Afterwards, they will be taken to Ichilov and Sheba hospitals in central Israel.
What’s known about the three hostages set to be freed
Three Israelis held hostage in Gaza for 16 months are set to be released by Hamas on Saturday as part of the fragile ceasefire agreement. Agence France-Presse has this rundown on what’s known about the three men.
Eli Sharabi, 52
Sharabi, who turns 53 this month, was at his home in kibbutz Beeri with his British-born wife and their two teenage daughters when Hamas stormed it on 7 October 2023.
The armed men shot their dog before locking the family in their safe room and setting it on fire. The bodies of his wife and two daughters were later identified.
He was taken to Gaza along with his brother Yossi. The Israeli military said early last year that Yossi was killed and his body was in the hands of Hamas in Gaza.
Ohad Ben Ami, 56
Ben Ami was abducted with his wife, Raz Ben Ami, from their home in kibbutz Beeri.
She was released during the one-week truce in November 2023.
Images have circulated on social media showing him being seized in a T-shirt and underwear.
Ben Ami, who has dual Israeli and German citizenship and turned 56 in captivity, is the accountant for his kibbutz and a keen bike rider.
Or Levy, 34
Levy and his wife, Einav Levy, went to the Nova music festival, leaving their two-year-old son Almog with his grandparents.
The usually inseparable couple, who met in high school, tried to hide from the Hamas attackers along Route 232, the only path away from the festival.
“When gunfire erupted shortly after their arrival, they sought refuge in a concrete safe room, later known as ‘the death bunker’,” the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
There, Einav was murdered, and Or was taken captive.
These images have come in of Hamas militants standing guard in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, this morning before the expected release of three Israeli hostages.
Hamas has begun setting up a stage in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, where the hostage release is expected to take place, according to a Times of Israel report about 20 minutes ago.
It went on:
The location is a new one, with the terror group shifting sites where it conducts the releases.
The stage has a a sign of a fist with a Palestinian flag, and the words “total victory” written in Hebrew at the bottom over a picture of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has vowed the war will not end until Israel achieves “total victory.”
White pickup trucks with machine guns mounted on the back flank the stage and masked and armed Hamas gunmen can be seen forming a cordon surrounding the site.
It is not immediately clear if there will be one or more sites where the three hostages, Ohad Ben Ami, 56, Eli Sharabi, 52, and Or Levy, 34, will be freed.
Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of the latest news from the Middle East, with the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees expected to take place on Saturday as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas has named the three to be released in the fifth exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel as civilians Eli Sharabi, Ohad ben Ami and Or Levy.
Israel is set to release 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Saturday to fulfil its side of the agreement, according to the Hamas-linked prisoners’ office in Gaza.
The Gaza ceasefire deal remains fragile. The release of the hostages’ names was delayed by several hours after Hamas accused Israel of delaying the delivery of aid and other equipment in breach of the terms of the ceasefire. Israel dismissed the claims as “completely unfounded”, saying it had allowed thousands of trucks carrying food, aid and shelters into Gaza.
It’s nearly 8am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. In other developments:
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The United States has approved the sale of more than $7.4bn in bombs, missiles and related equipment to Israel. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the proposed sale – which still technically requires the approval of Congress – “improves Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serves as a deterrent to regional threats”.
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Global aid agency the Norwegian Refugee Council said humanitarian efforts in Gaza remained in an “emergency crisis setting”. Communications adviser Shaina Low said more aid had been able to enter the territory since the ceasefire but that there were still “delays in screening certain types of material”.
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Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still in the US and has delivered a joint press conference with US house speaker Mike Johnson. Netanyahu praised President Trump for lifting bans on the provision of certain weapons that were in place under the Biden administration and said there was no “future for peace” in his region if Hamas remained there
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The international criminal court (ICC) condemned Trump’s executive order announcing sanctions against the court, accusing the US president of trying to “harm its independent and impartial judicial” work. “The court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world,” it said.
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The UK has “no plans” to impose similar sanctions and will “support the independence of the ICC”, a spokesperson for prime minister Keir Starmer said. The UK and the US “over a number of administrations have taken a different view on the ICC”, they added
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France, Germany and the Netherlands all spoke out against the sanctions. Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof said that, as the host of the court, the Netherlands had a “responsibility to guarantee the unhindered functioning of the criminal court at all times. We will keep doing that.”
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The UN also criticised the sanctions. “We deeply regret the individual sanctions announced yesterday against court personnel, and call for this measure to be reversed,” human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.
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Trump’s order said the court had “engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel” and vowed to “impose tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for the ICC’s transgressions”.
