Israel releases more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners as part of ceasefire deal

The Israeli government says that it has released thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages held by Hamas as part of the ceasefire deal mediated by the United States. 

Cheering crowds met some of the former prisoners who were released into the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The prisoners include 250 serving life sentences for attacks on Israelis and 1,700 detained in Gaza during the war, the Associated Press reported. Those not delivered to Palestinian territories will be sent into exile. 

The prisoner release occurred as the terrorist group Hamas returned all the remaining 20 hostages to Israel according to its obligations under the ceasefire agreement. So far, the group has yet to return all the bodies of deceased hostages, to the consternation of Israeli hostage groups. 

Israel’s coordinator for hostages Gal Hirsch said an international task force will work to locate the bodies of the deceased within the next 72 hours, per the Associated Press. 

The exchange means that, so far, both Israel and Hamas have met the initial terms negotiated in Egypt with U.S. and Arab mediation. The progress prompted President Trump to declare the ceasefire a “historic dawn” of a new Middle East at a speech to the Israeli Knesset earlier today.