US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the Gaza hostages should be released on Monday or Tuesday and that he hopes to attend a signing ceremony in Egypt.
Trump opened a White House Cabinet meeting by discussing a deal reached on Wednesday under which the hostages held by Hamas are to be released in the first phase of a broader Gaza plan. He said he believed it will lead to "lasting peace."
Trump said under the plan Gaza is going to be "slowly redone," a reference to plans to rebuild the Palestinian enclave. He did not provide details.
Hamas is expected to release the 20 living hostages together, 72 hours after the ceasefire begins.
"We are getting the hostages back on Tuesday, Monday or Tuesday, and that'll be a day of joy," Trump said.
He said he was going to try to make the trip there to attend a signing ceremony in Egypt. The White House has been scrambling to work out the details of the hastily arranged trip.
While questions remain about what happens in the region in the long term, Trump said he hoped it would lead to "an everlasting peace."
Israel and Hamas signed an agreement on Thursday to cease fire and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, in the first phase of Trump's initiative to end the two-year war in Gaza.
Officials on both sides confirmed they had signed the deal following indirect talks in the Egyptian beach resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Under the deal, fighting will cease, Israel will partially withdraw from Gaza, and Hamas will free all remaining hostages it captured in the attack that precipitated the war, in exchange for hundreds of prisoners held by Israel.
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