[Photo Credit: Reuters]

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas held in Gaza for a third day on Sunday ahead of the expected release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and an address by U.S. President Donald Trump to Israel’s parliament.

Thousands of Palestinians continued to travel north towards Gaza City, the focus of Israeli attacks over the past two months, hopeful the ceasefire would bring an end to the war.

Government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said that Israel expected the hostages to start being released early Monday morning with the 20 living hostages to be released together.

In the event that hostages were released earlier, Israel was ready to receive them, she said. Their release is to be followed later by the handover of bodies of the remaining 28 deceased hostages.

Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas is due by noon on Monday to release the remaining hostages, taken captive on October 7, 2023, when the group’s militants launched the surprise attack on Israel that ignited the war.

Israel’s hostages coordinator Gal Hirsch on Thursday said a task force would be formed to help find the remains of any dead hostages that Hamas could not locate.

Trump is due to arrive in Israel on Monday to address the Knesset, the parliament, before traveling to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt for a world leaders’ summit on ending the Gaza war.

Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner addressed a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday, which many Israelis hoped would be the final one urging the release of hostages and end to the war.

The United States, along with Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, mediated what has been described as a first phase agreement between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas and prisoners and detainees by Israel.

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