HUNDREDS of Palestinian hostages have been released by Israel amid the ongoing ceasefire deal in Gaza.
A total of 333 Palestinians were freed from Israeli jails on Saturday morning, as a convoy of buses took them to Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
They were met by large crowds surrounding the buses, with many holding their phones in the air to capture the scenes.
Meanwhle, Hamas has released three male Israeli hostages – Iair Horn, 46, a dual citizen of Israel and Argentina; American-Israeli Sagui Dekel Chen, 36; and Russian-Israeli Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov, 29.
It comes as the UK Government explicitly ruled out a family visa scheme for Palestinians to resettle in the UK.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer ruled out any such scheme after a judge ruled that a family of six from Gaza – whose home was destroyed by Israel – could join a relative who has lived in the UK since 2007.
The Palestinians had tried to apply to join their family in the UK under a settlement scheme designed for Ukrainians, but were rejected. An upper tribunal appeal was granted on human rights grounds, and they were then given leave to live in the UK.
The judge said that the absence of a resettlement scheme was "irrelevant”, and pointed to European Convention on Human Rights article eight, which guarantees a right to family life, in their ruling.
However, Starmer said he believed the decision was “wrong” and that his Labour Government would close the “legal loophole”.
Meanwhile, the BBC has been accused of "shielding Israel and Trump" by failing to report on Donald Trump’s call for a “clean out” of Gaza as a call for ethnic cleansing.
The US president effectively endorsed the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians after he said the US would “take over” Gaza and “own it”.
