𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A Red Cross convoy is on its way to pick up the first Israeli hostages in Gaza.

It is not clear how long the process will take before the hostages will be handed over. Three women are set to be the first released in the ceasefire that began earlier Sunday.

Israeli media are reporting that the army has asked the mothers of the three hostages to come to a meeting point at a base next to the Gaza border.

Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said on Sunday that if Hamas reneges on the Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal, the United States will support Israel “in doing what it has to do.”

He added in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation,” “Hamas will never govern Gaza. That is completely unacceptable.”

An Israeli spokesperson has said in a news conference that Israel retains the right to continue with its war aims if Hamas does not keep its side of the deal.

“Hamas is not just Israel’s enemy – it is the enemy of the Gazan people,” the spokesperson said.

“Presidents Trump and Biden have given full backing for Israel to return to the fighting if the second phase is not effective,” said.

David Mencer added: “If there is indeed a need, Israel will return to fighting with great force. We will not give up until all the goals of this war are met.”

On the release of the hostages, the official also said Israel could not confirm their release until they were back on Israeli soil.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday it was important that the Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas had finally been implemented and that remaining hostages are released.

Speaking on the sidelines of a townhall meeting in the city of Schwalbach, Scholz said the release of hostages held by Hamas “should be used for a peaceful development, a perspective in which a Palestinian state can coexist peacefully with Israel.”

A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza is on its way to collect Israeli hostages from Hamas, an official involved in the operation told Reuters on Sunday.

Separately, Israeli Channel 12 reports that the process of returning the hostages has begun.

The three hostages have been named as Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Romi Gonen.

The streets in the shattered Gaza City in the north of the territory were already busy with groups of people waving the Palestinian flag and filming the scenes on their mobile phones. Several carts loaded with household possessions travelled down a thoroughfare scattered with rubble and debris.

Gaza City resident Ahmed Abu Ayham, 40, sheltering with his family in Khan Younis, said the scene of destruction in his home city was “dreadful”, adding that while the ceasefire may have spared lives it was no time for celebrations.

“We are in pain, deep pain and it is time that we hug one another and cry,” Abu Ayham said via the same app.

Long lines of trucks carrying fuel and aid supplies queued up at border crossings in the hours before the ceasefire was due to take effect. The World Food Programme said they began to cross on Sunday morning.

The deal requires 600 truckloads of aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the initial six-week ceasefire, including 50 carrying fuel. Half of the 600 aid trucks would be delivered to Gaza’s north, where experts have warned famine is imminent.

The last remaining British national being held in Gaza has been named by Hamas as one of three hostages set to be freed on Sunday.

British-Israeli Emily Damari, 28, was kidnapped during the October 7 attack and has been a hostage for 470 days.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “The UK Government welcomes the reports that British national Emily Damari is on the list of hostages to be released by Hamas today. We stand ready to support her upon her release.

“We urge both sides to implement all phases of the deal in full and for all hostages to be returned.”