Israelis and Palestinians prepared on Sunday for an exchange of all the living hostages who remain in Gaza for about 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, the cornerstone of a new cease-fire agreement.
The Israeli government said the exchange was expected to begin on Monday morning local time, but Israel was prepared for it to happen even sooner.
On both sides, there was a sense of relief mixed with elation over the progress after two years of devastating war. Adding to that optimism, the open-ended truce between Israel and Hamas, which was brokered by the United States and Arab mediators and began at noon on Friday, appeared to be holding over the weekend.
As part of the first phase of the cease-fire deal, Israeli forces have already withdrawn to a new defensive line inside Gaza. Thousands of displaced Palestinian residents have headed back to Gaza City in the north of the territory, and increased quantities of desperately needed food, medicine and other humanitarian aid are expected to start flowing into the enclave.
President Trump was expected to leave the United States on Sunday and land in Israel on Monday for a short visit. He is set to meet with the families of hostages and address the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, in Jerusalem.
He then is scheduled to fly to Sharm el-Sheikh, a Red Sea resort in Egypt, where he and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt will chair a summit with other Arab partners who supported the deal. World leaders have been invited to attend, but it was not immediately clear whether any Israeli or Palestinian representatives will participate.
Analysts say the cease-fire deal lacks details and leaves many critical questions unanswered, including whether Hamas will be disarmed and stripped of its power in Gaza and how the territory will be governed in the aftermath of the war.
Mr. Trump’s road map for ending the war envisions Hamas laying down its weapons and the demilitarization of Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had long insisted on those steps as conditions for ending the war in Gaza, but Hamas officials have expressed deep reservations about both.
It is also unclear which, if any, countries were planning on sending troops to join an international stabilization force that Mr. Trump had suggested would handle security in postwar Gaza.
Adding to the confusion, Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, issued a puzzling statement on Sunday saying that the greatest challenge for his country after the hostages’ release would be “the destruction of all of Hamas’s terror tunnels in Gaza.”
Mr. Katz said that mission would be carried out directly by Israeli military forces “and by means of the international mechanism that will be established under the leadership and supervision of the United States.”
Destroying the tunnels would be the main expression of the demilitarization of Gaza and dismantling Hamas’s weapons, Mr. Katz said, adding that he had “instructed the Israeli military to prepare to carry out the mission.”
Mr. Katz’s statement did not address the fact that Israeli forces have now withdrawn from Gaza City, where much of the Hamas military infrastructure remains intact, according to Israeli leaders, who only recently described the city as one of the militant group’s last bastions.
Under the vague terms of the agreement, Israeli forces cannot return to areas from which they have withdrawn as long as Hamas is seen as complying with the deal.
Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.
Isabel Kershner, a Times correspondent in Jerusalem, has been reporting on Israeli and Palestinian affairs since 1990.
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