Israel began releasing Palestinian prisoners Sunday as part of the latest ceasefire between Hamas and the Jewish nation.
The Israeli Prison Service announced the first group of Palestinian prisoners have been released from the West Bank’s Ofer Prison.
Ninety prisoners were set to be released in exchange for three Israeli hostages held by Hamas that were released earlier on Sunday.
The prisoner swap took place in the middle of the night Israeli time. It lies in accordance with a recent 42-day ceasefire agreement Hamas and Israel reached that went into effect on Sunday morning.
Under the deal, Israel will release roughly 1,900 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 33 civilian hostages held by the terrorist group. Several of the hostages held by Hamas that are set to be released to Israel are already presumed to have died during their time in captivity.
Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher were the first three hostages held by Hamas to be released as part of the deal Sunday. They have been in Hamas captivity since they were kidnapped at a music festival during the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
The latest ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was struck just days before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office on Jan. 20.
President Joe Biden has said he worked with Trump as “one team” to secure the deal.
Trump has claimed that the deal couldn’t have happened if he hadn't won a second term in office.
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“Perhaps most beautiful all this week, we achieved an epic ceasefire agreement as a first step toward lasting peace in the Middle East, and this agreement could only have happened as a result of our historic victory in November,” Trump said during an inaugural eve rally Sunday evening. “I'm glad to report that the first hostages have just been released.”
”What a job our incoming administration has achieved all of this in the Middle East in less than three months without being president," Trump continued after he praised Steve Witkoff, the incoming administration’s special envoy to the Middle East, for his work on the deal. "We've achieved more without being president than they've achieved in four years with being president."