There were emotional scenes as freed hostages reunited with their families in hospitals across Israel, and as Palestinian prisoners met with their relatives in the West Bank.
The last 20 living hostages held by the Palestinian enclave were released by Hamas, which also released the names of four deceased hostages, whose bodies, it says, will be handed over.
All 250 Palestinian prisoners and more than 1,700 detainees from Gaza held by Israel without charge since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023 were also set free.
In his remarks to the Israeli Parliament on Monday, US President Donald Trump told the sharing lawmakers that the long and painful nightmare was finally over after helping to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
During the first such address by a US president since 2008, Mr. Trump said the day would mark the moment that everything began to change and change "very much for the better in the Middle East".
"After so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still, and the sun rises on a holy land that is finally at peace," he declared.
After that address in Israel, the US president then flew to a summit in Egypt, to meet more than 20 leaders for talks on later phases of his Gaza peace plan.
At the summit Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the US signed a declaration as guarantors of the ceasefire deal which is aimed at ending two years of war that has left Gaza in ruins.
But amid the diplomatic celebrations and the joy during reunions in Israel and the Palestinian territories, many challenges still lie ahead if the ceasefire is to be built into a lasting peace.
The latter phases of Trump's 20-point peace plan are fraught with sticking points, and intense negotiations will be needed in order to move forward.
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