Alice CuddyTel Aviv and
Yaroslav Lukiv
Hundreds of thousands of people protested in Tel Aviv ahead of the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas.
Addressing the crowd, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said the hostages were “coming home” and praised President Donald Trump for making possible the Gaza ceasefire and hostage repatriation negotiations.
In Gaza, Palestinian officials said about 500,000 people have returned to devastated northern Gaza in the past two days following the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Meanwhile, Egypt said it would hold a summit on Monday to finalize an agreement to end the war.
Egypt’s presidential spokesman said more than 20 leaders, including President Trump, would attend the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh. It has been confirmed that French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Kiir Starmer will visit Egypt on Monday.
President Trump is scheduled to visit Israel on Monday before heading to Egypt. His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner also spoke at the rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
Under the ceasefire and hostage release agreement announced on Thursday, Hamas has 72 hours until 12:00 local time (09:00 GMT) on Monday to release all 48 hostages it still holds after two years of war, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
“Under the signed agreement, prisoner exchanges are scheduled to begin on Monday morning as agreed, and there are no new developments on this issue,” Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, told AFP.
He said Hamas militants on the ground had not yet notified the movement’s leadership about the transition plans.
Aviv Habron, whose family was killed and others kidnapped in a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, told the BBC from Tel Aviv: “It’s so important for the community that they come back – without this we can’t restart our lives.
“My sister and two brothers-in-law were killed. Seven members of my family were kidnapped. My sister, her daughter and her grandchildren were also kidnapped. The bodies of four Be’eri (community) members are still in Gaza.”
Shulamit and David Ginat, who attended the Tel Aviv rally, told the BBC that all hostages must be rescued.
“They are our brothers and sisters. We want to heal again. We want to stop the war, stop the suffering, and heal again,” Shulamit said.
Many in the crowd chanted “Thank you, Trump!” – But Witkoff was also booed when he mentioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The couple said in interviews shortly afterward that they were angry with him for failing to prevent the Oct. 7 attack, the war, and for failing to bring the hostages home sooner.
“He wants to continue the war because he wants to remain prime minister,” David said.
In Gaza, Hamas has called in thousands of fighters to reassert control over areas of the Gaza Strip from which Israeli forces recently withdrew, according to local sources.
The Hamas mobilization was widely expected amid growing uncertainty over who will rule Gaza after the war ends and growing fears of internal violence. Armed clashes between Hamas and Gaza were also reported.
Palestinian refugees continue to move north from Gaza in large numbers, many arriving there to find their homes destroyed.
“There is no home anymore. Everything is gone,” lawyer Mosa Aldous said by phone from Gaza City.
Raza Salmi, 52, told AFP he arrived in Gaza City’s Limal district to find his house also missing.
“I stood in front of him and cried. All those memories are just dust now,” she said.
The amount of aid flowing into Gaza is expected to increase under the terms of the cease-fire and hostage rescue agreement, but the World Food Program (WFP) told the BBC that there had not been a surge in the number of aid trucks “yet”, with only two or three trucks entering Gaza each day.
WFP, a UN agency, said it plans to restore regular food distribution systems once it has full access and increase support through 145 distribution points across Gaza.
Kogat, the Israeli military agency that oversees the flow of aid into the Gaza Strip, said 500 trucks entered on Thursday, about 300 of which were distributed inside the Gaza Strip by the United Nations and other organizations.
A recent report by the Integrated Food Security Category (IPC), the world’s leading hunger monitoring organization backed by the United Nations, estimates that 500,000 people, or a quarter of the population of the Gaza Strip, are suffering from famine.
Israel has repeatedly denied that there is hunger in the Gaza Strip, and Netanyahu has said it is the fault of aid groups and Hamas.
On October 7, 2023, a Hamas attack in southern Israel left about 1,200 people dead and 251 taken hostage.
Israel has launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
