• The release of living Israeli hostages from Gaza is underway. The seven hostages just freed are among the 20 still alive expected to return home today. The hostages are undergoing initial medical checks in Re’im military base, where they are reuniting with their close family members before a transfer to hospitals.

• Hundreds of people in Gaza are awaiting the release of 1,700 Palestinian detainees held in Israel since October 7, 2023. As part of the first phase of the US ceasefire agreement, 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences will also be released.

• US President Donald Trump is now in Israel, where he is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and address the country’s parliament. Trump will also meet some of the families of the hostages.

• Trump will then head to Egypt, where leaders from more than 20 countries, including Emmanuel Macron of France and the UK’s Keir Starmer, will join a summit on Gaza’s future.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is riding along with US President Donald Trump in the presidential limousine as they head now to the Knesset building in Jerusalem. The two men were seen speaking inside the vehicle before it departed the airport tarmac.

Trump successfully pressured Netanyahu into accepting this week’s ceasefire-for-hostages deal, but there could still be tough discussions ahead. While Netanyahu warned last night the “military campaign is not over,” Trump was definitive when speaking last night on Air Force One.

“The war is over” he told reporters. “The war is over, you understand that?”

The two men will have about 40 minutes alone to discuss the discrepancy as they make their way to Jerusalem.

US President Donald Trump is to receive the highest civilian honors from Egypt and Israel.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will confer the Order of the Nile on Trump, who will visit Egypt later Monday, “in appreciation for his role in supporting peace efforts, defusing conflict and his leading role in stopping the war in Gaza,” according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Monday that Trump would receive Israel’s highest civilian honor, the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor, in recognition of his efforts to bring the hostages home.

Herzog said Trump had “laid the foundations for a new era in the Middle East built on security, cooperation, and genuine hope for a peaceful future.”

President Donald Trump emerged from the door of Air Force One on Monday morning to a trumpet fanfare before descending the steps and shaking hands with officials awaiting him on the red carpet at Ben Gurion Airport.

He greeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warmly with a half-hug and a smile. The two men have a complicated relationship that has endured a number of ups and downs over the past several months.

“He’s a wartime president. He did a very good job. I had some disputes with him, and they were quickly settled,” Trump acknowledged on Air Force One last night.

The two men spoke for a few moments before moving onward to other officials, including the US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Israel’s envoy to the US Yechiel Leiter.

Trump also greeted his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who helped broker the ceasefire agreement last week.

The mother of hostage Matan Zangauker can be seen speaking with her son in a video call, telling him that the war is over and that he is on his way back home.

Video shows Einav Zangauker holding up a phone and speaking to another person who is holding up their phone showing a video call with Matan.

Matan Zangauker and his partner, Illana Gritzewsky, were kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz. Gritzewsky, a Mexican national, was released on November 30, 2023, as part of a short-lived hostage-and-ceasefire deal.

In a separate video, the Nir Oz community can be seen viewing the first photos of brothers David and Ariel Cunio brothers reunited, in a photo shared by their mother Silvia Cunio.

Images also show hostage Nimrod Cohen video calling parents Vicki and Yehuda Cohen.

The phone calls with Matan Zangauker, Ariel and David Cunio and Nimrod Cohen were made while they were still in Hamas captivity, according to a source close to the families.

The families received early indications that such calls could occur. It was one call and the phone was transferred from one family to another, the source said.

A large delegation of Israeli officials, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara, are awaiting President Donald Trump at Ben Gurion Airport.

Also on hand are the Israeli President Isaac Herzog, the US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who helped broker the final ceasefire agreement, along with his wife Ivanka Trump.

A red carpet has been rolled out on the tarmac, and cordons of Israeli troops are lined up for a welcome ceremony.

US President Donald Trump has just arrived in Israel as the hostage release process is underway.

Before he departed, Trump said it was a “special time” as the ceasefire he helped broker takes effect.

“Everybody’s cheering at one time, that’s never happened before,” the president said before getting on his airplane.

The first seven hostages released from Gaza have arrived in Israel, according to Israeli military.

They will be given an initial medical screening at Re’im field hospital where they will meet their closest family and loved ones for the first time in two years – before being taken to hospitals for comprehensive checks.

Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh was killed by his captors, told CNN that the release of the living hostages made today “a day of elation, relief and joy.”

Hersh Goldberg-Polin was among the hundreds of young people attending the Nova music festival in southern Israel on October 7. The Israeli military body was found in tunnels under Gaza in September 2024.

While she is celebrating the return of other hostages, she spoke about how she misses her son.

Here is what she told CNN:

An outpouring of emotion swept Hostages Square as crowds broke out into song, awaiting the return of the remaining 13 of 20 living hostages.

The Habayta, meaning “coming home” in Hebrew, anthem has become a symbol of the struggle to bring hostages home and has been frequently sung at gatherings and vigils since the October 7 attack.

Footage shows people waving flags and pictures of loved ones, held high, with their voices united in song.

Contributions from Arab countries in the next phase of the ceasefire deal are important to guard against the resurgence of Hamas in Gaza, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said.

“I think the very fact that you have Arab leaders, moderate Arab countries, that are willing to participate in the next phase, is crucial because they should be involved in making sure that you have law and order in Gaza and making sure that Hamas is not really its power,” he told CNN.

Danon also said Israeli soldiers are remaining on the ground in Gaza currently for the same purpose.

There is a mix of emotions among the crowd gathered at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

“There are obviously huge amounts of excitement and jubilation. But yes, a degree of trepidation as well,” said CNN’s Clarissa Ward at the scene.

The seven hostages are among the 20 still alive who are returning home today.

Some are also grieving for their losses, Ward added.

The mother of Israeli hostage Nimrod Cohen, who’s set to be released on Monday, waved to the crowds as she arrived at Re’im.

Re’im is where the hostages are expected to be received after crossing the border.

“I’m great!” Vicki Cohen told CNN’s Jeremy Diamond from her car as she blew kisses and waved to the crowd.

Israeli soldier Nimrod Cohen was kidnapped from a tank near Kibbutz Nirim, close to the Gaza perimeter fence, during the October 7 Hamas attacks.

Members of his family have gathered in Jaffa, Israel to watch the release, and video shows them hugging and clapping as news of the hostage releases comes through.

Vicki Cohen has “become really such a visible and powerful force in the hostage families movement,” Diamond told Wolf Blitzer.

“A very different expression on their faces than the one that we have seen on their faces over the course of the last two years. Because for so many of these hostage families, it’s not only, finally being able to be reunited with their loved ones. It’s the end of so much anguish and also the end of their fight.”

Hamas said it is committed to the ceasefire agreement, provided Israel sticks to its side of the deal.

Hamas reiterated that it is releasing 20 living hostages as part of the first phase of “implementing President Trump’s plan to end the war on the Gaza Strip.”

Hamas stressed that international mediators should ensure that Israel “abides by its commitments under the agreement and completes the implementation of all its terms.”

The statement was issued shortly after Hamas’ military wing, Al Qassam Brigade, handed over the first group of hostages to the Red Cross.

US President Donald Trump is watching the release of hostages on television aboard Air Force One, according to his press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Trump is set to land in Israel soon after a lengthy flight from Washington.

The Red Cross has transferred the first seven hostages to the Israeli military in Gaza, an Israeli source said.

The IDF will soon bring the hostages into Israel.

Hundreds of people have gathered outside of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, where nearly 2,000 former Palestinian prisoners and detainees are due to arrive Monday, according to a statement obtained by the Hamas media office.

Red Cross buses and cars in Gaza have left the reception area in Khan Younis to the Israeli border to receive the prisoners and detainees.

Families of the released prisoners and detainees – 1,700 of them who have been held without charge since their arrest from Gaza since October 7, 2023 – are waiting to meet their loved ones.

At least six helicopters were seen arriving at the Re’im base in southern Israel in preparation for the arrival of hostages released from Gaza, a CNN team witnessed. After a medical check and a reunion with their families, the hostages will be flown to hospitals around Tel Aviv.

CNN’s Jeremy Diamond reports from the scene.

Guy Gilboa-Dalal was 22 when he was kidnapped from the Nova music festival during the October 7 Hamas attacks.

He was taken alongside his childhood best friend, Evyatar David, 24.

According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, he has a deep passion for Japanese culture, has taught himself the language, and dreams of visiting the country.

In February 2025, Hamas filmed Gilboa-Dalal and David watching other hostages being released, posting the video to Telegram.

Gilboa-Dalal’s brother, Gal Gilboa-Dalal, told CNN this amounted to psychological torment.