Israeli hostages expected to be released on Monday morning ahead of President Trump's visit to Israel

Israeli authorities are preparing for a Monday morning release of the remaining hostages, Hebrew media reported on Saturday night. 

Gal Hirsch, the Coordinator for Hostages and Missing Persons, told hostage families on Saturday that the government believes the release will happen on Monday morning. 

“We demand, expect, and are working to ensure that Hamas, with the assistance of the international force, makes a full (100%) effort to complete the mission and return all deceased hostages so they may be laid to rest in Israel,” Hirsch wrote in a message to hostage families. 

The Red Cross held a coordination call with the IDF’s Prisoners and Missing Persons division on Saturday evening, in which it said it expected to use between 6 to 8 vehicles for the hostage transfer. 

At the same time, government authorities are preparing for the possibility that the release could happen as early as late Sunday evening or overnight. A senior Hamas official told AFP that the release would begin on Monday morning. Hamas also affirmed that 20 living hostages would be released. Over the past few weeks, there were concerns that more of the hostages could have died.

It is believed that Hamas plans to release the hostages before the arrival of U.S. President Donald Trump to Israel on Monday, as a sign of good faith. 

Following the IDF’s withdrawal to the agreed-upon line on Friday, Hamas has 72 hours to complete the hostage release according to the terms of the Trump peace plan. 

On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Sheba Medical Center, one of the hospitals which is preparing to receive the returning hostages. 

While Hamas is apparently working to locate the remains of the deceased hostages, a report in Channel 12 News claims that the terror group has likely already begun to feed the hostages more food over the past few days, in an attempt to improve their appearance ahead of the release. However, Israel reportedly requested Hamas not to overfeed the hostages, as this carries health risks. 

The living hostages are believed to already be concentrated in one location ahead of the release. 

Many around the world were shocked by the appearance of the male hostages released in the hostage-ceasefire deal earlier this year, with Trump comparing them to Holocaust survivors. Images of the the surviving hostages released in Hamas propaganda videos since has similarly showed them in a severely malnourished state. 

Meanwhile, Hamas indicated that it could release hostages as early as Sunday evening. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Hamas informed Israel through intermediaries that the terror organization is ready to "release the 20 hostages who are alive today." Reports in Arab media had previously claimed that the hostage release could take place as early as 6:00 a.m.

Israeli media also reported that Israel had demanded a “closure order” around parts of Gaza where the remains of hostages could be located, as it does not anticipate that Hamas will release all of the remains of the deceased hostages on Monday. The closure order would prevent reconstruction work in areas where the hostage remains are believed to be located, until Israeli authorities have chance to search the area. Hamas has reportedly accepted the request. 

The report came after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff told hostage families that he believed Hamas might not be able to locate all the remains of the deceased hostages by the Monday morning deadline. 

Following the release of the hostages, Israel will release 250 security prisoners, who are serving life sentences for participation in terror attacks, along with 1,700 other prisoners, including women and children.