It's a moment many have held their breath for: two years after the horrific 7 October attacks in which Hamas took 251 people hostage, all 20 surviving hostages have been freed. Reports indicate that the bodies of only four of the 28 dead hostages have now been released.
Under the signed peace agreement, which President Donald Trump confirmed late Wednesday, Hamas was to release all 48 remaining hostages by noon (Israeli time – 5:00 a.m. ET) Monday. On Sunday news arrived that releases should have started a little earlier.
The release of hostages held by terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip is expected to begin early Monday morning, the Prime Minister's Office said on Sunday.
Israel told the hostages' families it expected them to be released between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., but the time could change, The Times of Israel has learned.
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President Trump left for Israel on Sunday and plans to arrive Monday morning to meet with the families of the hostages and speak with the Israeli Knesset. Townhall's Katie Pavlich, who is one of the journalists accompanying Trump on his trip to the Middle East, shared a list of the names of the 20 living hostages who are finally returning home:
Names of living hostages who will be released:
Matan Angrist
Ziv Berman
Dig
Elkana Bohbot
Rom Breslavski
Nimrod Cohen
Ariel Kunio
David Kunio
Avoid David
Guy Gilboa-Dalal
Maxim Kharkin
Ethan Horn
Sedge Kalfon
Bar Kuperstein
Omri Miran
Eitan mor
Yosef Chaim Ohana
Alon Ohel… https://t.co/MnP8M4WOlo– Katie Pavlich (@Katatpavlich) October 12, 2025
- Matan Angrist
- Ziv Berman
- Dig
- Elkana Bohbot
- Rom Breslavski
- Nimrod Cohen
- Ariel Kunio
- David Kunio
- Avoid David
- Guy Gilboa-Dalal
- Maxim Kharkin
- Ethan Horn
- Sedge Kalfon
- Bar Kuperstein
- Omri Miran
- Eitan mor
- Yosef Chaim Ohana
- Alon Ohel
- Avintan Or
- Matan Tsangoker
As Kathy also noted, unfortunately, although the bodies of the 28 dead hostages were also supposed to be returned, not all were found.
Hamas is required to release all 48 hostages – 20 alive and 28 presumed dead – by Monday afternoon. However, the terrorist group has said it will not be able to find all the dead hostages within that time frame, and Israel knows this. Prime Minister's Office spokeswoman Shosh Bedrossian said Sunday afternoon that once Israel confirms it has accepted all the hostages it expects to receive (a likely indication that it knows which dead hostages Hamas will not be able to hand over on Monday), it will begin releasing nearly 2,000 Palestinian security force prisoners in exchange, including 250 sentenced to life. conclusion.
Ahead of the release, live hostages were transferred to three different locations in the Gaza Strip as Hamas officials met with Red Cross officials on Sunday evening to finalize preparations for the transfer.
On Sunday afternoon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a video clip X. In the video, Netanyahu speaks in Hebrew, but here is a rough translation of his opening words (provided via Grok):
Tomorrow the sons will return to their borders.
Tomorrow is the start of a new journey. A path of creation, a path of healing and, I hope, a path of uniting hearts.
President Trump also addressed reporters aboard Air Force One en route to the Middle East:
“So they have hostages—all 20 of them, I understand—and we can get them out a little sooner,” Trump said. “Actually getting them was amazing because we were part of it and they were in places you don’t want to know about.”
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On Monday morning this was confirmed – all 20 living hostages were released.
All 20 surviving hostages have been released 🙏🏼🎗️
– Katie Pavlich (@Katatpavlich) October 13, 2025
Although this is just the beginning of the Gaza peace plan, Trump said, “The war is over.”
For now, the freed hostages and their loved ones, as well as all those who prayed for their return, can finally exhale.
They are at home.
They are home 💙
From Kfar Aza, Nir Oz and Nahal Oz – they took them from their houses, some in their pajamas from their beds.
On October 7, Hamas terrorists attacked their kibbutzim, killing, burning, and kidnapping families.
Today, after endless days in the dark, they are finally free… pic.twitter.com/stEkRGhI5f
– Israel Israel (@israel) October 13, 2025
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