The Red Cross announced on Monday that it had launched an operation in the Gaza Strip to retrieve the first group of 20 surviving Israeli hostages held by Hamas , marking the initial stage of a ceasefire agreement brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump to end the Gaza conflict .

Under the agreement, Israel was set to release almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees and convicted prisoners from its jails later on Monday. The handover of 28 other Israeli hostages — 26 dead and two whose fate is unknown – is expected to follow.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was expected to drive the hostages to Israeli security forces, who would take them into Israel, where they would be reunited with family and flown by helicopter to hospitals in central Israel.

Red Cross Convoy Arriv

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