According to Qatar, which mediated the agreement, thirty-nine Palestinians were freed from Israeli prisons on Friday as part of a four-day ceasefire agreement reached with the Islamist Hamas organization.

According to Majid al-Ansari, a spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, “we confirm the release of 39 women and children held in Israeli prisons in implementation of obligations of the first day of the agreement,” on the X platform.

The agreement, which was made public by Qatar on Wednesday, calls for the return of certain captives that Hamas took during its October 7 raid on Israel in exchange for a brief ceasefire between the two sides that will allow much-needed aid to enter the densely populated Gaza Strip.