Hamas has told Israel it has 20 living Israeli hostages in hand and is ready to begin releasing them as early as Sunday, people familiar with the matter said.
The message, which the militant group sent through Arab mediators, marked the first time Hamas has confirmed that it has 20 living Israeli captives.
It also addresses the uncertainty around whether Hamas would be able to assemble all the living hostages quickly in its battered and fragmented state and points to a possibly accelerated timetable for their release.
Israel’s military is preparing to receive the hostages as early as Sunday night, though it still expects the handover is more likely to happen Monday, when President Trump is slated to visit Israel and Egypt, an Israeli official said.
Under the agreement brokered by President Trump and sealed just ahead of the weekend, Hamas is to release all of the hostages it holds. Israel had believed that as many as 20 hostages remained alive in Gaza, along with the bodies of roughly 28 others.
Hamas told mediators and Israel that it doesn’t know the location of some deceased hostages and that it will struggle to meet the Trump plan’s 72-hour deadline to deliver them. Israel’s intelligence services also believe the group doesn’t know where all of the bodies are, and Israel has acknowledged it will likely take more time for the bodies to be collected.
A joint multinational task force is being established to locate the bodies of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip whose locations are unknown, the people said. It will include Turkey, the U.S., Qatar and Egypt, they said.
Write to Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com, Anat Peled at anat.peled@wsj.com and Dov Lieber at dov.lieber@wsj.com
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