250 long-term detainees, most of them serving life sentences, were released from Israeli prisons after the Islamist movement freed the 20 remaining Israeli hostages who were still alive. More than 1,700 other Palestinians were also released.

It is unclear if disagreement over the list of Palestinian prisoners will affect the release of hostages within the agreed 72 hours.

Forty-eight Israeli hostages due to be released on Monday, with nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees to follow