After President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of his peace plan, efforts are underway to speed up the release of the hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Under Phase 1 of the plan, the Palestinian militant group is expected to release all living and dead hostages, while Israel is expected to withdraw its troops to an “agreed upon line” and release some Palestinian prisoners.
A senior White House official told the Deseret News the peace deal will head to the Israeli Cabinet on Thursday to be voted on. Once the Cabinet votes yes, Israel will withdraw to the agreed upon line, which is expected to take less than 24 hours.
At that point, the 72-hour clock begins for hostages to be returned to Israel — and there is an expectation Hamas may act more quickly than is required.
“Our assessment is that hostages will begin getting released on Monday,” the White House official said.
During a Thursday Cabinet meeting, Trump said the day hostages are returned will be a “day of joy.”
The president did not offer more details about other parts of the ceasefire deal, including reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza Strip and the configuration of an international governing body expected to oversee the peaceful transition in the region.
The president’s announcement came just one day after the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, when Hamas invaded Israel, killing more than 1,000 people and taking more than 250 hostages. This sparked Israel’s counteroffensive that has led to the death and displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been steadfast in his mission to bring hostages home, with several previously agreed upon deals to release women, children and the elderly. He celebrated the announcement Wednesday, saying “we will bring them all home.”
Here’s what we know about the remaining hostages
More than 100 hostages were released during two previous brief ceasefires, including women, children and the elderly. Israeli forces have also found the bodies of several other hostages in Gaza, and bodies of some of the other hostages were returned by Hamas.
Israel believes there are still about 20 living hostages and Hamas still has the bodies of about 25 others.
The living hostages are believed to be all men in their 20s and 30s, as most women and children were previously released. One woman, Inbar Hayman, is believed to have died in Hamas captivity and would be one of the deceased returned to Israel.
According to the Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum, several remaining hostages were taken from the Nova music festival and several others from small communities in southern Israel.
Families separated
Liran Berman, the mother of twin brothers Ziv and Gali Berman, spoke to CNN in February. She said released hostages told her that her sons were alive, but separated.
Brothers Ariel and David Cunio remain in Hamas captivity, while their spouses and children were previously released. Eitan Horn was kidnapped with his brother Iair. Iair was released in March and was used in a video posted by Hamas saying goodbye to his brother, CNN reported.
Matan Zangauker and his partner Illana Gritzewsky were kidnapped. Gritzewsky, a Mexican national, was released while Zangauker remains in captivity.
International hostages
Several hostages taken by Hamas were from other countries. Bipin Joshi, who was 22 at the time of capture, is a student from Nepal who was working at a farm. Three Thai nationals were taken. Sonthaya Oakkharasri and Sudthisak Rinthalak are believed to be dead, and an unnamed Thai citizen is believed to be among the living. Joshua Mollel, who is from Tanzania, was also declared dead.
Nova music festival
Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evytar David are childhood friends who were kidnapped from the Nova music festival. Avinatan Or was taken with his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, at the festival and she was later rescued by Israeli forces, CNN reported.
The outlet noted that Alon Ohel, Yosef-Chaim Ohana, Elkana Bohbot, Segev Kalfon, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Abraham Mor, Bar Kupershtein and Rom Braslavski, were also among those kidnapped at the festival.
IDF soldiers
Several Israeli Defense Force soldiers are still in captivity. Nimrod Cohen, Matan Angrest and Tamir Nimrodi are soldiers still held by Hamas.
Cohen reportedly appeared in a video posted by Hamas in March and his family identified his tattoo. Each of their mothers have been outspoken about their young adult sons being returned.
U.S. citizens believed to be among the dead
Itay Chen is believed to be the youngest American hostage in captivity. He was born in New York and grew up in Israel before joining the Israeli Defense Force. He is a dual U.S. and Israeli citizen, and was 19 when the attack happened.
His family told Spectrum News that they were cautiously optimistic about the deal since they do not know Chen’s physical condition, but were previously notified by Israeli intelligence that their son did not survive the initial ambush.
Omer Maxim Neutra is also a dual citizen from Long Island, New York, and served in the Israeli military. He is also believed to be among the dead hostages. His family said their lives as they knew it were gone, The New York Times reported.
Both were believed to be killed in the Oct. 7 attack.
CNN reported that several Israeli sources believe Hamas may not know where the bodies are of some of the remaining deceased hostages.
What does Hamas get for releasing the hostages?
According to Trump’s proposal, once the hostages are freed, Israel would release Palestinian prisoners and Gazans.
The agreement says Israel will release 250 “life sentence prisoners” and up to 1,700 Gazans who had been detained since the start of the war. Israel will return the bodies of 15 Gazans for the remains of each Israeli hostage.
The prisoners’ identities are currently unknown, but Hamas was calling for the release of several high-profile figures who conducted deadly attacks on Israelis. Marwan Barghouti, one of the most high-profile prisoners, will not be released in the swap, an Israeli spokesperson said, per the BBC.