US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Hamas had just released three hostages from Gaza, including an American citizen, clarifying that this differed from its statement last week that it would not release any hostages.

Trump added: "Israel must now decide what it will do by 12 noon today, the deadline for the release of all hostages, and America will support its decision."

For his part, the Chief of Staff of the Israeli occupation army, General Herzi Halevi, announced on Saturday that the army is preparing "plans for the attack" while the process of releasing the hostages held in Gaza under the truce with the Hamas movement continues.

"In conjunction with the great enthusiasm that accompanies the return of each hostage, we in the (army) remind ourselves of our duty to bring them all back. We are making tremendous efforts for this, and at the same time we are preparing plans for the attack," Halevi said in a military statement, without giving further details.

Earlier today, Hamas released the Israeli hostages Yair Horn, Sagi Dekel Han, and Sasha Alexander Tropanov in Gaza, while the Israeli occupation entity began releasing about 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in return.

Later, Hazem Qassem, spokesman for the Hamas movement, confirmed that the movement hopes to begin talks on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip within days.

He added that US President Donald Trump's statements about releasing prisoners "contradict" the agreement concluded under the auspices of mediators and the United States, stressing that the movement "has what to do to deal with Israel if it reneges on its obligations" under the agreement.

He added, "America must oblige Israel to abide by the agreement if it is concerned about the lives of the prisoners."

Trump called yesterday for a "tough stance" on Gaza, and on Monday he described Hamas's threat to delay the release of Israeli hostages as "horrific," threatening the Palestinian movement with "real hell" if "all (hostages) are not returned by Saturday afternoon."

In a meeting with reporters at the White House, Trump suggested that Israel “cancel” the ceasefire in place in the Gaza Strip since January 19 if Hamas did not release all the hostages by noon next Saturday. He said he would leave “that to Israel to decide” what should happen to the fragile truce between it and Hamas.

"But as far as I'm concerned, if all the hostages are not returned by 12 noon on Saturday - I think that's a reasonable deadline - then I call for it to be cancelled and for all hell to break loose," he added.