TEL AVIV, October 12. /TASS/. The release of Israeli hostages under the Gaza deal will begin early on October 13, Israeli prime minister’s spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said.

"The release of our hostages will begin early on Monday morning. WE are expecting all twenty of our living hostages to be released together at one time to the Red Cross among six to eight vehicles without any sick displays by Hamas, the terror organization," she said.

"Israel is prepared and is ready to immediately receive all of our hostages. The hostages will then be driven to forces inside of Israeli controlled parts of Gaza and then transferred to the Re’im base in southern Israel, where they will then reunite with their families," she said, adding that if the release rakes place earlier, Israel will be ready to receive the hostages.

She also said that Israel is ready to receive the bodies of 28 deceased hostages after the living ones are released. These hostages, in her words, were killed either on October 7, 2023 or in captivity or their bodies have been held by terrorists since 2014. According to Berdosian, international forces set up under the plan will help find those bodies of hostages that will not be returned on Monday.

It is expected that radicals will begin releasing hostages at around 6:00 a.m. (3:00 a.m. GMT) on October 13, the Kan broadcaster reported, citing Coordinator for Captives and Missing Persons Gal Hirsch.

According to The Times of Israel newspaper, Red Cross employees will notify Israel two hours ahead of radical begin to release hostages.

On October 9, US President Donald Trump stated that the Israel-Hamas talks in Egypt had yielded an agreement on the first phase of a peace plan. According to the US leader, phase one provides for the release of all hostages in the near future and the withdrawal of Israeli forces to agreed positions inside Gaza. Immediately after that, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Trump and invited him to speak at the Knesset (Israeli parliament).

Overnight to October 10, Netanyahu’s office said that the government had approved the hostage release deal. The Gaza ceasefire agreement came into effect from 9:00 a.m. GMT and the Israeli troops began positioning themselves along the updated deployment lines. From this time, a 72-hour countdown started until the release of hostages held by the Palestinian movement Hamas in the embattled enclave.