Israel began releasing Palestinian prisoners on Monday as part of a Gaza cease-fire agreement, with buses carrying freed detainees from Ofer Prison arriving in Beitunia, occupied West Bank, according to the Hamas-run Prisoners’ Media Office.

The first bus of 38 vehicles carrying prisoners released from the Negev Prison in southern Israel also arrived in the Gaza Strip, the office said.

The releases came after Hamas handed over 20 living Israeli hostages under the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect on Friday under US President Donald Trump’s plan to end a two-year Israeli war on the enclave.

Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed more than 67,800 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, leaving the enclave largely uninhabitable.