Jerusalem, Feb 1 (IANS): The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) expects that the release of three Israeli hostages planned for Saturday morning will take place at two locations in the Gaza Strip, Israel's state-owned Kan TV News reported.

The list of the three people intended for release, sent to Israel on Friday, includes 54-year-old Israeli-French citizen Ofer Calderon, 65-year-old Israeli-American citizen Keith Siegel, and 35-year-old Israeli civilian Yarden Bibas.

According to the channel, Siegel is expected to be handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross in Gaza City, while the other two hostages will be released in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Xinhua news agency reported.

After being transferred to the Israeli military, the three hostages are scheduled to go to the IDF's Reim base near the Gaza border, where they will meet with family members before being flown by helicopters to hospitals in central Israel.

Earlier Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a statement welcoming home the three Israelis who were released on Thursday from captivity in Gaza -- Agam Berger, Arbel Yehud and Gadi Moses.

Netanyahu also criticised how Hamas handled their release.

"Agam, Arbel, Gadi -- welcome home," he said.

"The entire State of Israel embraces you, as do my wife Sara and I."

"This release was achieved, first of all, thanks to our heroic soldiers, and it was also achieved thanks to the steadfast and determined stand that we took during the negotiations," Netanyahu added.

However, the Prime Minister also had a few words about the chaos in Gaza that the freed Israelis experienced during their release saying, "We will not accept violations of the agreement. During the release of our hostages today, we all saw shocking scenes. We made it clear to the mediators that we do not intend to accept any risk to our hostages."