The Red Cross has now departed the staging area in Deir al-Balah.

They will now be transported to Israel and taken by IDF helicopters to meet with medical personnel and their families.

Hamas is now handing over hostages to the Red Cross, which is expected to take them to Israel.

The three hostages are now being led offstage and into waiting Red Cross vehicles.

They are being escorted by Hamas fighters and have waved at the crowds as they walk to the cars.

The hostages appear to be interviewed on stage by a Hamas fighter. We can't hear exactly what he's saying.

The three men look gaunt.

The hostages, dressed in brown shirts and trousers, have been walked on stage by Hamas fighters.

Two Hamas fighters are escorting each of the hostages.

They're holding each hostage by his arms and have marched them onto the stage.

The three are being held on the stage and are holding what appear to be certificates of their release.

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Tel Aviv

There are sporadic chants here in Hostages Square of “Bring them home” as people gather around a big screen watching live news footage from Gaza.

"The sun has come out - it's a good sign," the woman next to me says. "I hope they are healthy."

Two Red Cross workers have got onto the stage.

Hamas fighters are also standing on the stage, pumping their fists.

The officials from the Red Cross are signing documents and exchanging them with Hamas.

We expect to see the hostages shortly.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Tel Aviv

Image source, EPA

I’ve been speaking to families in Hostages Square. There are those who have had their family members killed in Hamas captivity among the crowd, and those whose family members are not even in the first stage of the ceasefire deal, who are desperately looking to the second stage to bring their loved ones home.

Under the terms that have been laid out, the second stage is also when there should be a more permanent end to the fighting, and work is under way on that second stage of the deal, but negotiations have not yet begun in earnest. We have heard that an Israeli negotiating team is due to fly off to Doha.

People here are desperately waiting for some more good news. People are carrying posters of the three men due to be released. They are very aware of the stories of these three men. They know that two of them had their wives killed on 7 October.

In the case of Eli Sharabi, his two teenage daughters were also killed, and his brother, who has been campaigning for his release, says it is really not clear if he knows that his family has been killed, and he might have to break that news to him when they are reunited.

A lot of people have been coming week in, week out to join marches calling for the return of hostages. There are people wearing fluorescent T-shirts which read 'we're with you' – a message of solidarity.

We're seeing pictures now of three white vehicles entering the staging area. Some Hamas operatives are sitting on the back of one of the vehicles, a pick-up truck.

Another white van and an SUV have pulled into the area. The vehicles have lined up near the staging area.

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Tel Aviv

Residents of Kibbutz Be'eri have been telling me of their excitement as they wait for the release today of Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami.

"We are glued to the screen, flipping back and forth waiting for Eli and Ohad to be freed," Simon King says over WhatsApp.

"Eli will be coming back to the very hard reality that his whole family was murdered, while Ohad on the other hand will be coming back to his family's open arms. It's such a big contrast," he says.

Another resident, Shir Guttentag, says she is "very excited." "We hope it will go well," she adds.

In Kibbutz Be'eri, 101 people were killed on 7 October 2023 and another 30 residents and their family members were taken hostage.

The Red Cross vehicles have reached the staging area.

The crowd has stepped aside to let them through.

So far, no one has got out of the vehicles.

The Red Cross has now arrived in Deir al-Balah. We're watching for signs of the three hostages.

A throng of civilians has surrounded the Red Cross vehicles. They're moving slowly towards the staging area.

Image source, Reuters

Since phase one of the ceasefire deal came into effect on 19 January, we have seen weekly releases of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

They take place on the weekend, and last weekend saw the release of three Israeli men.

Yarden Bibas, 34, was taken from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. His wife and two young sons were also captured, and are yet to be released.

American-Israeli Keith Siegel moved from North Carolina to Israel forty years ago. His wife Aviva, who was taken alongside him on 7 October 2023, was released in November of the same year.

Father of four, Ofer Kalderon, was also released. “Ofer endured months in a nightmare,” his family said upon his return.

A total of 33 hostages should be released in return for around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners. So far, 13 hostages have been released.

• Who are the Israeli hostages released from Gaza?

Image source, Reuters

We are expecting the Red Cross to arrive soon in Deir al-Balah in Gaza, but so far, we haven't seen them enter the area.

On our live feed, we can see that a staging area and rows of pick-up trucks are lined up. A crowd of civilians is watching.

We'll bring you more information as we receive it about the hostage transfer.

Lucy Manning
Special correspondent

The British family of Eli Sharabi, who will be released by Hamas today, told the BBC they are “delighted”, but also concerned Sharabi will only then discover his British wife and two teenage daughters were killed on 7 October.

“We still don't know whether he knows about Lianne, Noiya and Yahel," said Stephen Brisley, from Bridgend, Wales, who is Lianne's brother. "I just hope that he already knows, because it's just going to be another layer of torture for him to have survived for the 490 days, and then to come out to that piece of news.”

Brisley said the homecoming of his brother-in-law would bring them some hope after so much grief.

“His safe return has always been that one crumb of comfort, that one chink of light. Eli coming home alive would be perhaps the greatest memorial to Lianne and the girls and we're so close to achieving that now."

“For us as a family, it brings an end to that part of the limbo of not knowing whether we were going to be having a fourth funeral, to bury him. And I think it will enable us to unlock our grief and grieve properly again for Lianne and the girls.”

Wyre Davies
Reporting from Tel Aviv

Earlier, we brought you details about preparations under way by the family of Eli Sharabi, who are expecting to welcome him home later today.

One relative, Jacob Srdnayof, tells the BBC the reality of Eli's return hasn't set in yet.

"Until I see with my own eyes Eli walk free I won’t believe it," he says.

"We didn’t sleep, we are waiting, we are tense. We had Friday night dinner last night and we couldn’t sleep! My heart is hurting, Eli is coming to the unknown; he has no home, no wife, no children, no older brother. We don’t know what Eli knows about this."

Everyone is glued to the TV screen waiting for news of the hostage release.

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Tel Aviv

Image source, EPA

Returning to Israel, people are beginning to gather now around the big screen at Hostages Square.

I've just been speaking to Keren Redlich, who says she is "excited to the point of tears" about today's return.

While she does not know any of the three men being released today personally, she says she feels a connection to them and their families and wanted to experience their release with others at the square today.

She carries a yellow flag and wears a yellow ribbon in support of the hostages.

"I want to share this feeling with everyone," she says.

Image source, EPA

In the first phase of the deal, 33 hostages should be released in return for 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.

So far, more than 500 have been released. They are often met by bustling, shouting crowds who embrace the bus loads of prisoners, still in their grey prison uniforms.

Of these, several are women and children - one of the youngest released at the end of January is a 15-year-old.

Some of them were accused of relatively minor offences, others had not been convicted or formally charged.

But 21 prisoners convicted of the most serious offences, including murder, were not allowed by Israel to return home to the Palestinian Territories and were exiled to Egypt or neighbouring countries.

On the last weekend of January, 47-year-old Hussain Nassar, who was arrested in 2003 for taking part in the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, was released. His daughter who greeted him got to hug him for the very first time - she was born while he was in prison.

While we wait for the hostage release, we can bring you a bit more information about the 183 Palestinian prisoners expected to be released by Israel today.

The Israel Prison Service says it has received a list of prisoners that are expected to be released today but has not publicised the names on that list.

The prisoners will be taken to reception centres in the Ofer and Ktziot prisons, where they will be held until the Israeli hostages are released, the prison service says.

Some prisoners will then be driven to a release point in the occupied West Bank, with others taken to the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza.

As part of the ceasefire deal, Israel has agreed to release 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, including some who are detained without charge.

Image source, EPA

Alice Cuddy
reporting from Tel Aviv

Preparations are under way in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square as three men are set to be freed today and returned home to Israel.

It marks the fifth round of releases since a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into force last month. In exchange for the hostages' return, Israel has been releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Each week, live news footage of the hostage returns is broadcast on a large screen in the square. Among the crowds expected to gather here today are relatives of some of those still held in Gaza.

We don't know exactly what time the releases will happen, but reports in Israeli media say officials here expect that it could begin at around 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT).

In Gaza, armed and masked Hamas fighters have begun gathering by a stage in the central city of Deir al-Balah in preparation.