Updates: Israel frees 183 Palestinians after 3 captives released in Gaza

To learn more about the harsh conditions faced by Palestinian detainees held by Israel, read our story here.

For more on Israel’s ongoing assault on the occupied West Bank, read this story.

On Arab nations rejecting President Trump’s suggestion to move 1.5 million Gaza people to Egypt and Jordan, see here.

And you can also read about prisoner-captive releases by Hamas and Israel, here.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here is a recap of today’s main events:

• Three captives were transferred to Israel and 183 Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel as celebratory scenes erupted in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
• The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says released prisoners showed signs of starvation, illness and physical injuries, indicating they had been beaten.
• Hospitals in Gaza received 27 bodies in the past 24 hours as the death toll from Israel’s 15-month war continues to rise with bodies being pulled out of the vast piles of rubble.
• The Rafah border crossing opened for the first time in nearly nine months to allow dozens of sick and wounded Palestinian patients in Gaza to travel to Egypt for medical treatment.
• Palestinian health authorities say five people were killed by Israeli air strikes in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, including a 14-year-old boy.
• Foreign ministers of five Arab countries rejected the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land as suggested by US President Donald Trump.

As part of the ceasefire deal, Palestinians have been returning to their homes in northern Gaza.

But they’ve found much of the territory has been reduced to rubble and the homes they would have returned to destroyed.

Watch the video below:

The reopening of the Rafah crossing represents a significant breakthrough that bolsters the ceasefire deal Israel and Hamas reached last month.

Egypt’s Al-Qahera television showed several children being brought out on gurneys and transferred to ambulances on the Egyptian side. They were rushed to hospitals in the nearby Egyptian city of El Arish and elsewhere. Footage showed one young girl whose foot had been amputated.

Zaher al-Wahidi, an official with Gaza’s Health Ministry, said 37 of the children had crossed into Egypt by Saturday evening.

Mohammed Zaqout, director of hospitals at Gaza’s Health Ministry, said more than 6,000 patients were ready to be evacuated abroad and more than 12,000 were in urgent need of treatment.

He said the small numbers set to be evacuated would not cover the need, “and we hope the number will increase”.

Stepping off a bus with two dozen other released Palestinian prisoners after 23 years imprisonment in Israel, Ata Abdelghani had more than his freedom to look forward to. The 55-year-old was also to meet his sons, Zain and Zaid, for the first time.

The twins, now 10 years old, were conceived while Abdelghani was imprisoned, after his sperm was smuggled out of his prison. He had been serving a life sentence on several counts including murder, according to a list released by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.

“These children are the ambassadors of freedom, the future generation,” Abdelghani said as he hugged the boys tightly. “It’s hard to describe in words. My thoughts are scattered. I need a great deal of composure to control myself, to steady my nerves, to absorb this overwhelming moment.”

He added that the situation in prison had been “difficult, tragic”.

Israel released 183 prisoners, almost all Palestinians, except for one Egyptian, on Saturday.

Rare scenes of joy among Palestinians and Israelis after 15 months of genocide in Gaza.

Prisoners are exchanged for captives, and attacks by Israeli soldiers have largely halted. But what lies ahead – hope or more problems?

A Palestinian has been wounded by Israeli gunfire in the city of Hebron, sources tell Al Jazeera.

Earlier, we reported that Israeli forces detained two Palestinian reporters and took their photo equipment in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, a 14-year-old boy was among five people killed in Israeli air strikes in Jenin as the Israeli army’s deadly raids continued across the occupied Palestinian territory.

Israeli forces also stormed several other West Bank areas including the nearby Balata camp, Nablus and the al-Ein refugee camp.

Hamas freed three Israeli captives nearly 500 days after they were taken in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli custody.

Shemi Kalderon, uncle of one of the released captives, Ofer Kalderon, was overcome with emotion at the news.

“I hope this is a sign of the rebirth of the people of Israel, not just of Ofer, not just of the hostages,” he said.

Kalderon was handed over to the Red Cross in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Saturday. Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum hailed their release as “a ray of light in the darkness”.

Yaser Abu Hamad was arrested for his involvement in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad armed group in 2006.

Transferred to prison in Israel and held for almost two decades, Abu Hamad missed countless historical milestones: Hamas’s takeover of Gaza, the imposition of a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade, five bloody wars and more violent skirmishes with Israel.

But nothing has transformed the Gaza he knew like this current Israel-Hamas war.

Abu Hamad couldn’t have anticipated the pain that would accompany his freedom from Israeli prison on Saturday. He discovered during the war that 20 members of his family – including his wife, mother, sisters, brothers and nephews – were killed by Israeli air strikes on his hometown of Khan Younis.

Instead of running into their arms as he imagined, he headed to see their graves.

One hundred and eighty-three Palestinian prisoners have been released from Israeli jails as part of the latest exchange under the Gaza ceasefire.

They were greeted with scenes of jubilation in southern Gaza as they were reunited with their loved ones.

Watch the video below:

A date for formal talks involving mediators and delegations from Hamas and Israel has not been set, with the 42-day first phase due to end next month.

Netanyahu’s office said US envoy Steve Witkoff would talk to Qatar and Egypt, key mediators, before discussing with the Israeli premier “steps to advance the negotiations, including dates for delegations to leave for talks”.

Talks on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase are set to begin Monday. The second phase is expected to cover the release of the remaining captives and include discussions on a more permanent end to the war – something several members of Netanyahu’s government oppose.

Concerted pressure by the incoming Trump administration and outgoing Biden one was cited as a factor in achieving this ceasefire after months of stalled talks.

Palestinian health authorities say five people were killed by Israeli air strikes in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, including a 14-year-old boy.

The Israeli military said it carried out a strike targeting a vehicle with “armed terrorists” but did not offer further details.

With these latest deaths, the toll since the start of the Israeli assault on the city and its refugee camp 12 days ago has risen to 24.

An Israeli captive freed in the first Gaza ceasefire swap last month pledged to fight to secure the release of others still held in Gaza insisting they’re “not alone”.

Doron Steinbrecher, 31, was released on January 19 when the ceasefire in Gaza came into effect, along with two other female captives, Emily Damari and Romi Gonen.

In a video statement screened at a rally in Tel Aviv, and addressed to the families of captives still in Gaza, Steinbrecher said she would fight to secure the release of their loved ones.

“You are not alone. We continue to fight for you, and we will do everything,” she said. “I will do everything until everyone returns home and until you can close this circle, and we’re together until the end.”

The Palestinian armed group released a statement on the fighting continuing in the occupied West Bank, including in the city of Jenin

Below are translated comments:

• The occupation is desperate to stop the rising tide of resistance in the occupied West Bank.
• We mourn the martyrs of Qabatiya and Jenin, and we affirm the wave of resistance in the occupied West Bank will not stop.
• All attempts by the occupation to impose the annexation and displacement plan will fail.
• We call for unifying national and popular efforts in the occupied West Bank.
• We call for continuing the mobilisation and escalating the confrontation against the occupation and its settlers.

The naval arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) unveiled a new underground missile facility on the south coast, in footage aired by state television, two weeks after unveiling an underground naval base.

“Hundreds of cruise missiles capable of countering enemy destroyers’ electronic warfare are stationed in these underground cities,” the report said. “The systems are being kept hundreds of metres underground and can be operational in a very short time.”

IRGC chief Major-General Hossein Salami toured the base with naval commander Rear-Admiral Alireza Tangsiri.

The report also unveiled a new model of cruise missile dubbed Ghadr-380, which Tangsiri said had “anti-jamming capabilities” and a range of more than 1,000km (600 miles).

He said the new missiles could “create hell for enemy vessels”.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says medical evacuations out of Gaza must continue for the sake of those in dire need of medical attention.

“Today, with support from WHO and partners, 37 patients — 34 children and 3 adults — and 39 companions crossed out of #Gaza via Rafah to continue receiving care in Egypt,” said Ghebreyesus in a social media post.

“We are grateful to the government of Egypt for their continued support and for providing specialised care to patients from Gaza. We urge for medical evacuations to be expedited through all possible routes. Thousands of lives depend on it.”

Today, with support from @WHO and partners, 37 patients — 34 children and 3 adults — and 39 companions crossed out of #Gaza via Rafah to continue receiving care in #Egypt.

We are grateful to the government of Egypt for their continued support and for providing specialised care… pic.twitter.com/bqHqNGVxhV

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) February 1, 2025

The return of more than half a million displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza – having survived war, siege and starvation – is a historic moment.

For right-wing media outlets in Israel, however, it’s a humiliation.

Watch the video below:

Earlier, we reported that Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, agreed on the need to consolidate the Gaza ceasefire deal during a phone call.

But it’s unclear if they discussed Trump’s controversial call for the transfer of Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan.

The White House said the leaders spoke about “Egypt’s important role in the release of hostages from Gaza”, and el-Sisi expressed confidence that Trump “could usher in a golden age of Middle East peace”.

Earlier this week, Trump suggested Gaza should be “cleaned out” with 1.5 million Palestinians being moved to Egypt and Jordan – something Arab nations have resoundingly rejected.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will begin talks on the second phase of a ceasefire in Gaza on Monday during his visit to Washington.

The prime minister “spoke this evening with the US President’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. The two agreed that negotiations on the second phase of the hostage deal will begin when they meet in Washington this coming Monday,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

The six-week phase one truce calls for the release of 33 captives and nearly 2,000 prisoners, as well as the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the devastated territory.

Israel and Hamas are set next week to begin negotiating the second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for releasing the remaining hostages and extending the truce indefinitely.