People gather to greet freed Palestinian prisoners arriving on buses in the Gaza Strip after their release from Israeli jails under a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, October 13, 2025. JEHAD ALSHRAFI / AP
The Israeli prison service said on Monday, October 13, it had freed nearly 2,000, mostly Palestinian detainees, as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal. It said in a statement that "1,968 terrorists were transferred from several prisons across the country to the Ofer and Ktziot prisons." "After the conclusion of the necessary activities in the prisons and the approval of political authorities, all the terrorists were released from the Ofer prison to (the West Bank) and East Jerusalem, and from the Ktziot prison to Kerem Shalom," it added, referring to one of the crossings into the Gaza Strip.
Thousands of Palestinians erupted with joy in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Monday, as Red Cross buses brought back the former prisoners. Some climbed the sides of the slowly-moving buses as they weaved their way through the dense crowds gathered at Nasser Hospital, to hug or kiss a loved one they recognized.
People gather to greet freed Palestinian prisoners arriving on buses in the Gaza Strip after their release from Israeli jails under a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, October 13, 2025. JEHAD ALSHRAFI / AP
