Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Two buses carrying Palestinian detainees freed from an Israeli jail were welcomed by hundreds of people cheering, chanting and honking car horns as they arrived in the occupied West Bank town of Beitunia early on Monday.
People climbed on top of the lead bus and unfurled a Hamas flag.
Members of the crowd also joined them, waving the flags of Fatah, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and several other Palestinian factions, as well as the Palestinian national flag.
Inside the bus, a handful of freed female prisoners could be seen smiling and flashing victory signs while a Red Cross staff member watched on.
Earlier, the Israel Prison Service confirmed in a statement that it had completed the first release of prisoners as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
It said the detainees "were released from Ofer prison and the Jerusalem detention centre", in a statement issued just before 1.30am on Monday.
The prisoner release, the first in the war since November 2023, followed the freeing of three women hostages by Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Sunday.
According to a list provided by the Palestinian Authority’s Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs, all of those released are women or minors. Israel detained them for what it said were offences related to Israel’s security, from throwing stones to more serious accusations such as attempted murder.
More than 230 Palestinian prisoners, who were sentenced to life imprisonment for attacks that killed Israelis, are to be exiled after their release as part of the ceasefire agreement.
Gazans celebrate as delayed ceasefire takes effect - video
Israel has published a list of 734 prisoners it said would be released during the first phase of the ceasefire deal that started on Sunday.
According to the list, more than 230 prisoners, all serving life sentences for conducting or taking part in deadly attacks against Israelis, are to be permanently exiled, mainly to Qatar and Turkey.
More than 1,000 other Palestinians taken into Israeli custody since Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack that led to the war are also due to be released during the initial 42-day truce.
The agreement was negotiated with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the US, aiming to end more than 15 months of war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas.
Two Hamas sources said Israel agreed to release 296 Palestinians sentenced to life imprisonment during the first phase of the agreement, 236 of whom are to be deported immediately after their release.
The Israeli military says that 34 of the remaining hostages in Gaza have been confirmed dead.
Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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