Tears and hugs abound as Israel freed 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees early on Monday, hours after three Israeli hostages released from Hamas captivity in Gaza returned to Israel. The long-awaited ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took effect Sunday.
People react as a bus carrying released Palestinian prisoners from the Ofer Israeli military prison arrives in Ramallah, early 20 January 2025, amid a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. Israel and Hamas agreed on a hostage release deal and a Gaza ceasefire to be implemented on 19 January 2025. Photograph: Alaa Badarneh/EPA
The ceasefire agreement brought an end to a 15-month-long war that devastated the Gaza Strip and heightened tensions across the Middle East.
Palestinian leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Khalida Jarrar (C) greeted by relatives as she arrives in Ramallah Photograph: Alaa Badarneh/EPAPalestinian leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Khalida Jarrar (C) greeted by relatives as she arrives in Ramallah, occupied West Bank, Jan. 20, 2025. (EPA Photo)
In celebration, fireworks lit the sky as buses carrying Palestinian prisoners arrived in Ramallah, West Bank, where thousands had gathered to welcome them.
A freed Palestinian prisoner reacts from inside a bus that arrived with them after their release from an Israeli jail as part of a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
According to Hamas, those released from Israeli prisons included 69 women and 21 teenage boys from the West Bank and Jerusalem.
A freed Palestinian prisoner poses for a photo after being released from an Israeli jail as part of a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Ammar AwadRomi Gonen, Ramat Gan, Israel, January 19, 2025. Maayan Toaf/GPO/Handout via REUTERSRose Khwais, a freed Palestinian prisoner, holds a child after her release from an Israeli jail as part of a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, in Jerusalem, January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Jamal AwadFreed Palestinian prisoners ride in a bus after their release from an Israeli jail as part of a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, outside the Israeli military prison, Ofer, near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
More than 47,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Israeli attacks, according to medical officials in Gaza.
Nearly the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza is homeless.
