UPDATE - Israel begins to release Palestinian prisoners under Gaza ceasefire deal

Buses carrying freed prisoners arrive in West Bank, Gaza Strip, Prisoners’ Media Office says

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS, REVISES DECK

By Betul Yilmaz

ISTANBUL (AA) - Israel began to release Palestinian prisoners on Monday under a Gaza ceasefire agreement.

The Hamas-run Prisoners’ Media Office said buses carrying freed prisoners from Ofer Prison, west of Ramallah, arrived in the town of Beitunia in the occupied West Bank.

The first bus of 38 vehicles carrying prisoners released from the Negev Prison in southern Israel also arrived in the Gaza Strip, the office said.

The releases came after Hamas handed over 20 living Israeli hostages under the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect on Friday under US President Donald Trump’s plan to end a two-year Israeli war on the enclave.

Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed more than 67,800 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, leaving the enclave largely uninhabitable.

Kaynak:

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