Last Updated on October 13, 2025 5:30 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
Israel began releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
AMN / WEB DESK
In a Major peace deal – Hamas today released all 20 remaining living hostages held in Gaza, while Israel began releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as part of a ceasefire pausing two years of war that shaken the territory, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, and had left scores of captives in militant hands.
Cheering crowds greeted buses of prisoners in the West Bank, while families and friends of the hostages gathered in a square in Tel Aviv, Israel, cried out with joy and relief as news arrived that the captives were free.
The hostage-detainee swap is the first step in Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza. A ceasefire has been in place since Friday afternoon, but most of the details of the US president’s proposals need to be negotiated before a lasting end to the war is established.
The US president will visit Jerusalem on Monday to speak at the Knesset, as well as meeting families of the hostages.
Trump will then fly to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt where he will co-chair a “peace summit” attended by the leaders of more than 20 countries aimed at finalising a permanent truce in Gaza.
The Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah el-Sisi with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner
Donald Trump and Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to chair Gaza peace summit on Monday
As he boarded Air Force One on Sunday evening, Trump said that the “war is over” and “everybody’s cheering”.
“There are 500,000 people yesterday and today in Israel and also the Muslim and Arab countries all cheering … That’s never happened before,” he said.
Palestinians are desperate to see the ceasefire extend into a permanent end to the war, after two years of an Israeli campaign that destroyed most of the strip, killed more than 67,000 Palestinians and wounded about 170,000. Israel stands accused of conducting genocide in Gaza by a UN commission of inquiry and several human rights bodies.
UN Secretary-General welcomes release
As the UN Secretary-General on Monday welcomed the release of Monday of all living hostages from Gaza, aid agencies said that lifesaving relief supplies are now flowing at scale into the shattered enclave.
António Guterres expressed his “profound relief” that the hostages had been freed, two years since they were among some 250 taken during Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023, before highlighting their “immense suffering”.
The UN Secretary-General’s comments came as he headed to Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh along with world leaders for the Gaza peace summit. The international gathering was convened after Israeli forces pulled back from parts of Gaza, in line with an agreement between Israel and Hamas, brokered in Egypt by US mediators and representatives from Qatar and Turkïye.
In a message on X, Mr. Guterres reiterated his call for the release of the bodies of the deceased hostages and urged “all parties to build on this momentum and to honour their commitments under the ceasefire to end the nightmare in Gaza”.