Hamas fighters free first wave of hostages in Gaza truce

During a carefully orchestrated swap carried out at the start of a four-day ceasefire, Israelis beeped horns and applauded in the street as ambulances took the hostages to hospital for check-ups in the late evening, AFP video images showed.

Hamas released 24 hostages in total, all women and children, according to key mediator Qatar and an official Israeli list. They comprised 13 Israelis, some of them dual citizens, 10 Thais and one Filipino citizen.

Israel in turn freed 39 women and children from its prisons.

A two-minute video released by Hamas showed masked militants with rifles, wearing military fatigues and the green headband of its armed wing, as they handed hostages over to Red Cross officials.

The captives had been in Hamas' hands since its fighters smashed through Gaza's militarised border with Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and seizing around 240 Israelis and foreigners, according to Israel.

In response to the deadliest attack in its history, Israel launched an air, artillery and naval offensive to destroy Hamas, killing about 15,000 people, according to the Hamas government in Gaza.

Hamas is expected to free 50 hostages during the ceasefire in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners, part of an agreement struck after talks involving Israel, Palestinian militant groups, Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

"I am determined to help my family recover from the terrible trauma and loss we went through," said Yoni Asher, whose wife Doron and two daughters, aged two and four, were freed after 49 days held hostage in Gaza.

"It's allowed to feel joy and it's allowed to shed a tear," Asher said in a video released by the Hostage Families Forum. He vowed not to celebrate until the last of the hostages returned home.

- 'Four walls' -

Among the freed hostages, four children and four women were admitted to Schneider Children's Medical Centre.

Their physical condition is "good" and they will undergo a medical and psychological assessment, the hospital's chief executive, Efrat Bron-Harlev, said.

On the other side, Palestinians cheered the return of prisoners from Israeli jails.

Of the 39 prisoners freed by Israel on Friday, 28 were released in the occupied West Bank, an AFP correspondent reported, while the other 11 were brought to annexed east Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club.

Crowds of Palestinians in the West Bank set off firecrackers into the night sky, waved flags and whistled as two white coaches ferried prisoners out of the Ofer military camp, according to AFP journalists at the scene.

"I spent the end of my childhood and my adolescence in prison, far from my parents and their hugs," freed prisoner Marah Bakir, 24, told AFP after returning to her home in annexed east Jerusalem.

"That's how it is with a state that oppresses us."

Earlier in the evening, Israeli authorities fired tear gas to disperse the crowds. The Palestinian Red Crescent said three people were shot and wounded by Israeli security forces.

"The police are in our house and are stopping people from coming to see us," said Fatina Salman, whose daughter Malak, now 23, was among those released.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to bring all the Hamas hostages home.

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