Dozens of masked, armed Palestinian militants arrived at a key square in Gaza City on Saturday, where four Israeli women hostages are expected to be handed over to the Red Cross.

The planned release comes under a truce deal in the Gaza war that is also expected to see a second group of Palestinian prisoners freed.

The fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, carrying assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, gathered in rows, many carrying their groups' banners and wearing green headbands, as crowds of Gaza residents gathered to watch, an AFP reporter said.

Israel confirmed Friday that it had received a list of names of hostages who are due to return home, though neither side has specified how many Palestinians were to be released from Israeli detention.

Palestinians displaced by the war to southern Gaza should be able to begin returning to the north following Saturday's releases, Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas's political bureau based in Qatar, told AFP on Friday.

The truce has also led to a surge of food, fuel, medical and other aid into rubble-strewn Gaza but Israel's UN ambassador on Friday confirmed that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Gaza's main aid agency, must end all operations in Israel by Thursday.

Palestinian sources told AFP the releases could begin before noon (1000 GMT), though neither........

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