Israeli authorities have confirmed that Hamas has handed over the first three female prisoners as a ceasefire comes into effect in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
Romy Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, have been arrested, the Israeli military and internal security agency Shin Bet said in a joint statement late Sunday. Handed over to the Red Cross.
Red Cross vehicles took off from Gaza City in the north of the heavily besieged enclave after Hamas took the captives to Salaya Square as crowds gathered.
The ceasefire agreement will be implemented in three phases and will include sending more humanitarian aid trucks to Gaza to mitigate the devastation in the enclave. The first phase will last 42 days and will see Israeli troops withdraw from parts of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists he will keep fighting as some far-right lawmakers in the government led by National Security Minister Itamar Bengvir resigned in protest.
Thousands of Palestinians celebrated a long-awaited ceasefire that could improve the situation in Gaza. The move follows more than 15 months of deadly Israeli attacks that have killed more than 46,000 Palestinians and left thousands missing.
Al Jazeera reporter Ibrahim Khalili, reporting from Salaya Square, described scenes of joy among the crowds.
"They were very happy," he said. "Fifteen months of war destroyed everything and there are celebrations everywhere. This is a historic moment."
The captives are expected to be immediately taken to the Israeli army for identification and then airlifted to a hospital in central Israel. After being reunited with their families, they will stay there for at least four days to undergo psychological and medical evaluations.
Israel's prison service, as well as the Israeli army, have been reporting this week on how they are preparing to release prisoners.
On October 7, 2023, approximately 250 people were captured in an attack in southern Israel led by Hamas. Others were released or their bodies were recovered in late 2023, but around 100 captives remain in Gaza, although it is unclear how many are still alive.
Al Jazeera obtained a list of 90 Palestinian prisoners who will be released in exchange for three Israeli captives.
They all come from the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, and most of them are women, with some children.
The list includes the name of Khalida Jarrar, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the occupied West Bank. Others on the list include at least 12 young Palestinian men, some under the age of 19, and minors.
Numerous children and minors were arrested on suspicion of throwing stones at Israeli troops, Al Jazeera's Nida Ibrahim reported.
"We're talking about a light sentence," she said. "Most of the hundreds of prisoners who have been listed are being held in administrative detention, a tactic used by Israeli policy to keep people in prison indefinitely without charge. These administrative Detentions are constantly being updated.”
Hours before the ceasefire came into effect, Israel announced that it had retrieved the body of Oron Shaul, a soldier killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, and that his remains had been preserved ever since.