GAZA CITY (Palestine), Jan 31 (Bernama-AA) -- A group of 29 Palestinian prisoners, freed from Israeli jails, arrived in the Gaza Strip late Thursday as part of a third batch of a prisoner exchange deal under a ceasefire agreement, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) transported the prisoners through the Kerem Shalom crossing in eastern Rafah in southern Gaza, an Anadolu correspondent reported.
The prisoners were then transferred to the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza for medical checkups.
Nine of the released were from Gaza, while 20, originally from the West Bank and Jerusalem, were transferred to Gaza.
Footage from Khan Younis showed large crowds gathering to welcome the prisoners, carrying them on their shoulders amid chants and cheers.
The freed prisoners reunited with their families and mothers in an emotional atmosphere.
The latest exchange involved 110 Palestinian prisoners, including 32 prisoners serving life sentences, 30 minors and 48 with varying sentences.
Palestinian factions in Gaza earlier released three Israeli captives: Agam Berger, Arbel Yehud and Gadi Mozes.
The second exchange took place on Saturday, involving four Israeli women soldiers from Gaza, while Israel freed a Jordanian national and 199 Palestinians from its prisons.
The first exchange occurred Jan 19, the first day of the ceasefire agreement, when three Israeli civilian women were released in exchange for 90 Palestinian detainees, including women and children, all from the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem.
The first phase of the agreement, which is divided into three stages lasting 42 days each, calls for the gradual release of 33 Israelis -- living prisoners and the bodies of the deceased -- in exchange for between 1,700 and 2,000 Palestinian and Arab detainees.
The Israeli onslaught on Gaza has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst-ever global humanitarian disasters.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
-- BERNAMA-AA
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