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Hamas on Sunday released three hostages, all women, who were held in Gaza since the Palestinian group's attack on Israeli towns on October 7, 2023. Israel, as per the deal, released 90 Palestinian prisoners from its jails.
A total of 33 hostages taken by Hamas during its deadly attack will be returned from Gaza during an initial 42-day truce. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will also be released from Israeli jails.
The three hostages -- Emily Damari, Romi Gonen, and Doron Steinbrecher -- had been reunited with their mothers, an emotional video shared by the Israeli military showed.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they had emerged "from darkness". "Romi, Doron and Emily - an entire nation embraces you. Congratulations on your homecoming. I promise: We will bring everyone home," he said.
Israel began a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza on Sunday, nearly three hours after initially scheduled. The delay in truce came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked - an hour before the 0630 GMT deadline - that Hamas provide the names of three hostages it was to release on Sunday as part of the agreement.
Hamas said it was committed to the ceasefire but that it had been unable to provide the hostage list for "technical field reasons". It then shared the names and the ceasefire eventually began at 0915 GMT.
Hamas' October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians. Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Negotiations over a second phase of the agreement will begin by the 16th day of phase one and are likely to include the release of all remaining hostages. A third phase is expected to include the return of all remaining dead bodies and the start of Gaza's reconstruction.
The war's only previous truce took place in November 2023 for a week when Hamas released hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Over 47,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,10,000 injured in Gaza in Israeli strikes, which was in response to Hamas's October 7 attack, the deadliest in Israel's history. Nearly the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza is homeless.