Israel has begun to release Palestinian prisoners under a Gaza ceasefire agreement.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office said on Monday that 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 Gaza, the office said.

First phase

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.

The Prisoners’ Media Office announced earlier that 1,968 Palestinian prisoners, including 250 serving life sentences, will be released under the Gaza ceasefire agreement in exchange for Israeli captives.

The Red Cross confirmed that the process of releasing Israeli captives began the same day.

Of those serving life sentences, the media office noted, 143 will be released outside the occupied West Bank.