Israeli hostages Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Sasha Troufanov are expected to return from Gaza on Saturday after Egyptian and Qatari mediators helped avert a standoff that threatened to sink a fragile ceasefire that has halted fighting for almost a month.

Hamas militants have named the next three Israeli male hostages to be released as part of a fragile ceasefire deal that had teetered in recent days amid a major dispute that raised the specter of fighting resuming in the devastated Gaza Strip.

Israel has announced the names of the three hostages set to be released Saturday, in what would be the sixth exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire deal that came into effect last month.