Israel has released 3,700 Palestinian prisoners in the Gaza Strip under a ceasefire agreement, the Israeli Central Prisons Department said in a statement on Monday.

The prisoners were released in two batches. The first batch was from the Israeli-owned Ofer prison in the western part of Ramallah, the capital of the Palestinian West Bank. The number of prisoners in this batch was about 2,000.

The Hamas public relations office, which controls the Gaza Strip, said the prisoners arrived from Ofer prison to the West Bank city of Beitunia on several buses on Monday afternoon local time. The buses were provided by the international humanitarian organization International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (ICRC).

Meanwhile, as the first batch was about to leave for the West Bank, a second batch of 1,718 Palestinian prisoners arrived in the war-torn Gaza city of Khan Younis. They were held in the Nagev Prison in southern Israel.

The Israeli Central Prisons Department said in a statement about the prisoners in the Negev, “1,718 people were released from those arrested in Gaza since the start of the Israeli military operation in October 2023. Of these prisoners, 250 were serving life sentences.

All prisoners who arrived in Gaza have undergone initial medical examinations at the Nasar Medical Complex in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in Beitunia and Khan Yunis in the West Bank to welcome the prisoners.

On October 7, 2023, approximately 1,000 Hamas fighters entered Israeli territory and launched an ambush. The fighters opened fire indiscriminately, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. The October 7 attack was the deadliest in Israel's history since its founding in 1948.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a military operation in Gaza the next day, October 8, to respond to Hamas' attacks and rescue the hostages. In that horrific military operation, more than 67,000 Palestinians were killed and nearly 170,000 injured in Gaza over the course of two years.

There have been several attempts to end the war over the past two years. As part of those efforts, Israel has also announced several temporary ceasefires. During those ceasefires, Hamas released several hostages. In exchange, Israel has released several hundred Palestinians from prison.

Hamas ultimately held about 40 hostages. The group had previously said that, although there were 40 on paper, only 20 of these hostages were currently alive.

On September 29, US President Donald Trump proposed a new plan for a ceasefire in Gaza. The ceasefire in Gaza began last Friday after both Israel and Hamas agreed to the plan.

Hamas released all 20 remaining Israeli hostages on Monday, the third day of the ceasefire. In exchange for the release of these hostages, Israel released more than 3,700 Palestinians.

None of the prisoners released are on death row. Israel had previously said that no Palestinians sentenced to death would be released.