Israel has released 39 Palestinian prisoners in line with a truce deal that also saw 13 Israeli hostages freed in Gaza.
Qadura Fares, the Palestinian Commissioner for prisoners, disclosed that 33 prisoners freed in the West Bank were handed to a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross.
He added that the remaining six were being freed from a Jerusalem lockup, he said.
The Israel Prison Service confirmed that the Palestinian prisoners were released as part of the hostage agreement.
According to the prison service, the Palestinian women and minors were released from three prisons; Damon, Megiddo and Ofer .
“Tonight we finished the first day of our mission to bring the hostages home. We will continue in the coming days to take any necessary action to support this national effort,” the Head of the Israel Prison said in a statement.
A prison service spokesperson said, “At the beginning of the day, the (Israel Prison Service) commissioner directed all the staff members to act professionally and operationally, with the aim of carrying out the national mission of returning the hostages home.”
The prison service will continue in the coming days to carry out the plan for the release of the prisoners as part of the return of the hostages to their homes.”
Prison Spokesperson
A Palestinian woman who is among the first group of prisoners who have just been released from Ofer prison said many of the released detainees need medical attention.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, described the release of the first hostages as an “important first step.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released the names of the 13 hostages that have been released from Gaza.
The IDF also confirmed that the Israeli hostages freed from Gaza are now in Israel and have undergone medical checks.
The 13 hostages were escorted by special forces and the security services, Shin Bet, until they could be reunited with their families.
Israel Committed To Returning All Captives
In his first statement since the first group of Israeli captives were released, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu pledged that his administration was “committed to returning all the hostages.”
The Israeli prime minister, in a video statement, said, “We just completed the return of the first of our hostages: children, their mothers and additional women. Each of them is an entire world.”
“[Returning the captives] is one of the aims of the war and we are committed to achieving all the aims of the war,” he added.
At a news conference, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson, Daniel Hagari disclosed that the released hostages have all undergone medical tests and are in good condition.
He added, “We mustn’t forget this evening that each and every one of those returning home tonight still has a family member who has been murdered or has been held captive in Gaza.”
He continued, “The sight of the hostages returning home and crossing into Israel gave us a great sense of relief and yet our heart goes out to all the other hostages still kept in Gaza.”
Separately, The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) said that 137 trucks were offloaded by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) reception point in the Gaza Strip on Friday.
The UN was able to scale up the delivery of humanitarian assistance into and across Gaza during the humanitarian pause that has been in place since this morning, the OCHA said in a statement.
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