Buses carrying freed Palestinian prisoners have arrived in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip after leaving Israeli prisonsLarge crowds gathered to welcome the freed prisoners, as Israel confirmed all 183 people due to be freed today have been released
Meanwhile, the Rafah crossing - which is the sole crossing between Egypt and the Gaza strip has reopened after eight months, as the first group of wounded Palestinians have been evacuated to Egypt.BBC reported.
This comes after the earlier release of three Israeli hostages - Yarden Bibas, Ofer Kalderon and Keith Siegel - as part of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that began on 19 January
This deal was never going to be without controversy or critics, especially on Israel’s far right. It sees hundreds of Palestinians freed in exchange for a far smaller number of Israelis.
Itamar Ben-Gvir resigned as National Security Minister over the deal, saying he was "horrified" that "life-sentenced terrorists" would be released.
It may be memories of the deal to exchange Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners weighs heavy here. One of those released in the 2011 deal was Yahya Sinwar, who went on to mastermind the 7th October attacks.
