The stage has been set at a site in central Gaza where three Israeli captives will be released by Hamas in just under an hour, Al Jazeera reports.

The captives will be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Activity at the site is picking up, as crowds of civilians gather and Hamas fighters secure the area, with military vehicles carrying more fighters arriving, Al Jazeera said.

Banners on the stage read: “We are the flood, we are the war’s next day” and “total victory” — in a reference to a phrase used by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to describe Israel’s war on Gaza.