A top official within Hamas tells AFP that Israel will release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 20 living hostages: The figure includes 250 serving life sentences and 1,700 others detained since the start of the war.

The exchange should take place within 72 hours of the implementation of the deal, which was also “agreed with Palestinian factions,” another source within Hamas says.

A Palestinian source tells the Saudi channel Al-Sharq that the release of hostages and of prisoners held by Israel will begin “within 72 hours of the agreement’s implementation.” The outlet cites well-informed sources saying that will take place next week.

Another Saudi channel, Al-Hadath, reports that the 72-hour countdown for the release of hostages will begin after Israeli troops withdraw to agreed-upon lines in Gaza, which will take place once the deal is ratified by Israel.

Earlier, a senior Palestinian source told Qatar’s Al Jazeera that the mediators had accepted Palestinian maps showing an Israeli withdrawal from deep inside Gaza’s cities before the start of the release.

The deal stipulates “scheduled withdrawals” of Israeli troops, the top Hamas official tells AFP, and includes “guarantees from President Trump and the mediators.”

The Palestinian source cited by a-Sharq says that under the agreement, Israeli forces will withdraw from the Rafah crossing and its vicinity, and the deal also includes the transfer of Palestinian patients and wounded to Egypt for treatment and Rafah crossing will be opened in both directions once the agreement goes into effect.

A daily minimum of 400 trucks of aid will enter the Gaza Strip for the first five days of the ceasefire, to be increased in following days, according to the second Hamas source speaking to AFP.

It also provides for the “return of displaced persons from the south of the Gaza Strip to Gaza (City) and the north immediately,” they add.