Israel frees 90 Palestinian prisoners as Gaza ceasefire deal takes effect

Israel has released the first 90 Palestinian prisoners under the terms of a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending the hostilities in Gaza.

The release, which took place hours after the agreement was enacted on Sunday, was confirmed by Israeli authorities, as reported by local media, including the Times of Israel.

According to the Israeli prison authority, most of the freed detainees are women and minors. The majority hailed from the West Bank, while others were from East Jerusalem.

Palestinian media showed the footage and pictures of what they said were released prisoners arriving in Ramallah.

On Sunday, the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas released the first three Israeli hostages as part of the ceasefire agreement.

They were transferred by the Palestinian militant group Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Sunday afternoon.

Among those transferred were three women, named by the Israeli military as Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher.

They were then transferred to Israeli forces and transported to a hospital in Tel Aviv, where they were greeted by family.

A Hamas spokesman had confirmed that four more Israeli hostages would be released next Saturday.

This will be part of the deal to exchange 33 hostages for 1,904 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails over the course of six weeks.

Following months of stalemate in the 15-month Gaza war, a three-stage ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was brokered on Wednesday, capping months-long efforts by the U.S.

Others are; Egypt and Qatar to mediate between the warring parties.

The first stage of the ceasefire agreement also foresaw the Israeli military withdrawing from densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip.

(dpa/NAN)