CAIRO (Reuters) -Hamas deployed fighters in Gaza on Monday as a release of hostages seized in the October 7 attacks was under way, Reuters footage showed, in an apparent show of strength by the militant group which President Donald Trump says must disarm.

Reuters footage showed dozens of Hamas fighters lined up at a hospital in southern Gaza, and an armed man wearing the insignia of the Hamas armed wing, the Qassam Brigades. His shoulder patch identified him as a member of the elite "Shadow Unit", which Hamas sources say is tasked with guarding hostages.

BEIJING (Reuters) -China on Monday urged the Philippines to not challenge its efforts to "safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests" after vessels from the two countries clashed near disputed islands in the South China Sea.

China urges the Philippines to immediately stop "violations and provocations", Lin Jian, a spokesperson of the foreign ministry, told a regular press briefing.

China and the Philippines traded accusations on Sunday over a maritime confrontation near Sandy Cay, a coral reef within the Spratly Islands.

Freed Israeli hostages and their family and friends bounded into one another’s arms Monday, beaming and crying with joy at the end of the captives’ two-year ordeal in Gaza.

Wrapped in blue and white Israeli flags, those returning waved and smiled as military helicopters landed them back in Israel, AFP reporters saw, after militants freed the remaining 20 living hostages from the Palestinian territory under a US-backed ceasefire deal.

DUBAI (Reuters) -Palestinian group Hamas published on Monday the names of the 20 Israeli hostages to be released under the first phase of a ceasefire agreement with Israel.

The names included Bar Abraham Kupershtein, Evyatar David, Yosef-Chaim Ohana, Segev Kalfon, Avinatan Or, Elkana Bohbot, Maxim Herkin, Nimrod Cohen, Matan Angrest, Matan Zangauker, Eitan Horn, Eitan Abraham Mor, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Omri Miran, Alon Ohel, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, Rom Braslavski, Ariel Cunio and David Cunio.

(Reporting by Jana Choukeir; Editing by Kim Coghill and Christian Schmollinger)

(Reuters) -The release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza is expected to begin at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) from the Netzarim corridor and continue at 10 a.m. in Gaza's Khan Younis, Israeli media reported on Monday.

(Reporting by Yomna Ehab, Writing by Muhammad Al Gebaly; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Palestinian militant group Hamas was set on Monday to release dozens of hostages it has been holding in Gaza for the last two years, in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners, under the terms of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

Twenty of the 48 hostages who remain in Gaza are believed to be alive. Here are some details about them:

NOVA HOSTAGES

Most of the living hostages being released were abducted from the site of the Nova Music festival near Kibbutz Reim in southern Israel.

US President Donald Trump hailed a "tremendous day for the Middle East" as he and regional leaders signed a declaration meant to cement a ceasefire in Gaza, hours after Israel and Hamas exchanged hostages and prisoners.

Trump made a lightning visit to Israel, where he lauded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an address to parliament, before flying to Egypt for a Gaza summit where he and the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey signed the declaration on Monday as guarantors to the ceasefire deal.

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday questioned whether former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair would serve on a new "Board of Peace" that is intended to oversee the governance of Gaza, amid ongoing criticisms of Blair for his role in the Iraq War.

"I've always liked Tony, but I want to find out that he's an acceptable choice to everybody," Trump said, without naming specific leaders who could be weighing in on his choice of Blair.

A Gaza peace plan floated by the White House last month listed Blair as a member of the proposed board.

The world's tropical coral reefs have almost certainly crossed a point of no return as oceans warm beyond a level most can survive, a major scientific report announced on Monday.

It is the first time scientists have declared that Earth has likely reached a so-called "tipping point" -- a shift that could trigger massive and often permanent changes in the natural world.

By Alexander Cornwell and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump will receive a hero's welcome in Israel's parliament on Monday as a fragile Gaza ceasefire he helped to broker enters a fourth day, with the expected release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners marking tentative steps in a conflict long resistant to resolution.