Image source, Reuters

Today marked a major milestone in almost two months of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas.

The first Israeli hostages were released hours after the war began its four-day truce this morning.

A total of 24 hostages were returned to Israel - 13 Israelis, 10 Thais and one Filipino - which in turn released 39 Palestinian prisoners to the West Bank as part of a deal during a temporary ceasefire.

There were rare scenes of celebration as crowds gathered to watch a helicopter carrying eight freed Israeli hostages arrive at a children's hospital in Petah Tikva, after they spent almost seven weeks being held captive by Hamas in Gaza.

Around 137 aid lorries carrying much-needed medical supplies, fuel and food entered Gaza from Egypt. It's the biggest delivery of supplies since the start of the conflict but Oxfam pointed out it would not be "nearly enough".

Despite the ceasefire, videos circulated on social media that appear to show Palestinians being shot at as they tried to head from the south of Gaza to the north of the Strip. The Israeli military had advised people against heading north, saying "the humanitarian pause is temporary, and the northern region of Gaza is a war zone".

Meanwhile the "catastrophic" situation at Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital continues, according to a surgeon there. Israeli troops had moved in last week claiming Hamas operates out of the hospital - which it denies. An estimated 100 patients and staff are thought to still be at the biggest medical facility in Gaza but it is no longer operational.

So what could tomorrow bring? US President Joe Biden described today's hostage releases as "the start of a process", and Israeli media reported Hamas has sent a list of 13 more hostages expected to be released tomorrow to Israel.

As fighting pauses for now, a reminder of how we got here - on 7 October Hamas launched an attack on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 taken hostage.

Israel launched a retaliatory campaign, in which Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 14,500 people have been killed.

As we reported earlier, eight released hostages have now been taken to the Schneider Children's Medical Center in Petah Tikva, Israel.

Helicopters containing some of the freed Israeli hostages were greeted with cheers as they landed outside the centre this evening.

Four children and four women arrived at the facility, Dr Efrat Bron-Harlev, the centre's CEO told reporters earlier.

The BBC was there, and took this footage.

Image source, Reuters

The UN's agency for Palestinians, Unrwa, has said 137 trucks of humanitarian aid and supplies have been offloaded in Gaza today.

It marks the biggest delivery of supplies since the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel, and retaliatory Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Unrwa said 129,000 litres of fuel had also been delivered to Gaza, which has been urgently requested to power hospitals, telecoms and aid deliveries.

Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza as it launched its retaliatory campaign aimed at eliminating Hamas - just 20 trucks were allowed in on 21 October, for instance.

For context, before the war, around 500 trucks of aid a day were being delivered to the Gaza Strip, including fuel supplies.

Image source, Yoni Asher

Yoni Asher - whose wife and two daughters were among the Israeli hostages released today - says he "won't celebrate until the last of the kidnapped returns" home.

Asher saw a video of his wife, Doron, and daughters, Raz and Aviv, being loaded on to a truck with other hostages. They had been staying with relatives near the Gaza border at the time.

In a video published online, he says: "I am happy that I have got my family back, it has allowed me to be happy and it has allowed me to shed a tear.

"But I won't celebrate, I won't celebrate until the last of the kidnapped returns.

"I want to emphasise - our children, our fathers, our mothers, our sisters are at this time in captivity, there are people whose hearts are broken and I want to make sure that every last abductee returns home.

"The families of the kidnapped are not posters, they are not slogans, they are real people, and the families of the kidnapped are from today my new family, and I will make sure and do everything that the last of the kidnapped comes home."

Image source, FAMILY HANDOUT

Despite the ceasefire, the situation at Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital is "catastrophic", according to a surgeon working there.

Israeli troops moved into al-Shifa last week, in a "targeted operation against Hamas". Israel claims Hamas operates out of the hospital - a claim Hamas denies.

Earlier this week, some patients were evacuated from the hospital - the biggest medical facility in Gaza - but an estimated 100 patients and staff remain, according to World Health Organization (WHO).

Soldiers withdrew from the hospital earlier today, but speaking to BBC Arabic, Dr Ahmed Al Mukalati says there is now "nothing left working".

The WHO said two of six detained health workers at al-Shifa had been released but it had no information on the four remaining staff, including the detained director of the hospital.

Image source, .

Image source, Hostages and Missing Families Forum

Filipino caregiver, Gelienor 'Jimmy' Leano Pacheco, is amongst the 24 hostages to be freed by Hamas today.

Pacheco, 33, is a father to three children and made up one of the 11 foreign workers who were released under a separate deal to the 13 Israeli hostages also freed today.

He had been working in Israel for the past four years as a caregiver to 80-year-old Amita Ben Zvi in the Nir Oz kibbutz.

On the morning of the 7 October Hamas attacks, Pacheco called his friends to say he was being kidnapped and that Ben Zvi had been killed.

Following news of the attacks, Pacheco was seen in videos, handcuffed inside a car in Gaza.

A family member of three hostages released from Gaza has told BBC Newsnight “we couldn't believe it until we saw it with our own eyes”.

Itay Ravi, whose 78-year-old cousin Avraham is still being held, says “this is one step towards being happy”.

“My aunt Ruthi [78], my cousin Keren [54] and her son [Ohad, nine] were released from Hamas captivity tonight. They're making their way now to Israeli hospitals, to family. And this is very exciting. However, we cannot be completely happy.”

“It's still a very, very horrific reality that we're in,” says Itay.

“We will continue to do everything until everyone is back because we know that we cannot be fully happy.”

Birthday celebration

Ohad turned nine while being held in Gaza.

“The only celebration that we're going to have soon is [for] Ohad’s ninth birthday,” says Itay.

“Now we're going to have a big celebration for him, with all the friends and family, after he gets into the new reality. We'll see how he's back…I don't know how a nine-year-old comes back after 50 days in the hands of a terrorist organisation. I hope he does well.”

The full interview can be seen on Newsnight on BBC Two at 10.30pm.

Dr Efrat Bron-Harlev, the CEO of Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, says she was "thrilled to be the one to receive four children, three mothers and one grandmother" at the hospital.

She tells the press conference: "Their physical condition is good and they are currently undergoing medical and emotional assessment".

She says they are being treated "in a special area which is very private" and requests that their privacy is respected.

Dr Joseph Mendlovic goes on to say the hostages who arrived at the hospital were four women and four children.

He says medics were using the utmost sensitivity when checking for any change in the hostages' medical conditions since they were kidnapped.

He adds this is a "complex event medically and emotionally" for the released hostages, their families and the people of Israel.

He says alongside their joy and the feeling that the hostages are "now part of our family", they must ensure their privacy and dignity.

Eight released hostages have arrived at the Schneider Children's Medical Center, the associate director at the Ministry of Health in Israel, Dr Joseph Mendlovic, confirms.

He tells a press conference four children and four women had arrived at the facility in Petah Tikva, Israel.

A total of six Israeli hospitals had "meticulously planned to receive and treat the hostages who were discretely reunited with their families", he says.

He adds that they had anxiously awaited the hostages return and were elated to see them.

We've got some pictures reportedly showing an Israeli army helicopter landing at the Schneider Children's Medical Center in Petah Tikva, Israel.

The IDF earlier said the released hostages had an initial medical assessment and would be taken to hospitals in Israel to be reunited with their families.

It's unclear how many freed hostages were taken to the hospital but we'll bring you more as we have it.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Israeli media is reporting that Hamas has sent Israel a list of hostages it says it will release tomorrow, citing an Israeli official.

Israel does not publish the list of people to be freed before they're released. It's understood that once Israel has verified the list it will send back a list of Palestinian prisoners to be released in return.

The Times of Israel is reporting that Hamas has given 13 names - some of them children.

It forms part of deal in which 50 Israeli hostages and 150 Palestinian detainees are meant to be freed over four days during a temporary ceasefire.

Earlier US President Joe Biden said today's release of 13 Israeli hostages was "the start of a process". He said within hours "we'll know what the second wave of releases are".

He added: "We expect more hostages to be released tomorrow and more then a day after... Over the next few days, we expect that dozens of hostages will be returned to their families."

Issariya Praithongyaem
BBC World Service

Image source, Kittiya Thuengsaeng

I have spoken to the girlfriend of one of the Thai hostages released by Hamas earlier today.

Kittiya Thuengsaeng was sent a picture of Wichai Kalapat sitting in a Red Cross ambulance driving into the Shamir Medical Centre (Assaf Harofeh) outside Tel Aviv by a friend who had seen it on social media.

Kittiya recognised Wichai straight away. But she says she is now waiting for the Thai authorities to confirm that the man in the picture is indeed Wichai.

“I’m so happy that I [will be able to] see him again. I won’t let him go to Israel any more.”

Wichai arrived in Israel in December 2022 to work in an avocado farm under the Thai-Israel agreement on agricultural workers. The couple had planned to get married next year.

Kittiya, who is from north-east Thailand, said at first, her local labour agency had told her that Wichai, 28, was one of 16 Thai workers who were killed at Kibbutz Nir Oz, on 7 October. But she did not believe them and asked for evidence.

“I had been waiting for his body to return home, but it didn’t happen. If he had died and if, as the authorities said, they had already collected the Thai workers' bodies from the same kibbutz, his body should have come home by now.”

More on this story here.

Muhannad Tutunji
BBC Arabic

One Palestinian detainee who has just been released is Marah Bakeer. She recently arrived at her mother’s house in Beit Hanina in Jerusalem.

She was arrested in 2015, when she was 16 years old, and sentenced to eight and a half years in jail for a knife attack on a border police officer.

Bakeer told waiting journalists: “This deal comes following the death of many people and this makes us unhappy and uncomfortable.”

She said she was kept in solitary confinement and had "no idea what was happening outside, no idea about the situation in Gaza”.

“The news of the deal was a surprise,” she said.

Imogen Foulkes
Reporting from Geneva

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is involved with the implementation of the deal to free hostages held by Hamas, but added its operation will also "include the delivery of additional, much-needed humanitarian assistance into Gaza".

It also wants to bring medical supplies to hospitals across the strip as part of its operation.

Most hospitals, especially in the north, have either ceased to function or are overwhelmed with patients.

But this remains a very complex process. UN aid agencies are also shipping supplies into Gaza, but were today very hesitant when asked if they would be able to deliver aid to northern Gaza.

Although the four-day ceasefire agreement suggests all areas should be accessible to aid agencies, Israel has told Palestinians now displaced in the south not to try to return home, saying the north is a war zone – although many thousands of civilians are believed to remain there.

Biden says he has consistently pressed for a pause in fighting - both to allow more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, and the release of hostages.

"From the moment Hamas kidnapped these people, I along with my team have worked around the clock to secure their release. I've spoken repeatedly with the Emir of Qatar, President al-Sissi of Egypt and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, to help secure this deal," he said

Here's more about the negotiations leading to this deal

Image source, AFP

"It's only a start, but so far it's gone well".

That's how US President Joe Biden described the release of Israeli and other hostages today.

Speaking in a press conference, Biden said he saw today as the "start of a process".

"We will not stop" until all hostages are home, the US president said.

US President Joe Biden has just taken to the podium. The US has been heavily involved in the negotiations to secure the release of hostages.

Here's where things stand currently in Israel and Gaza at 19:00 GMT:

• Thirteen Israeli hostages have been released by Hamas and have arrived in Israel where they were taken by helicopter to hospital before being reunited with their families
• As part of a deal mediated by Qatar, 39 Palestinian detainees - 24 women and 15 teenage boys - were released from Israeli jails to the West Bank
• Ten Thai hostages and one Filipino have also been released from Gaza in a separate agreement mediated by Qatar and Egypt - they're being taken to a medical centre south of Tel Aviv
• As the four-day pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas began today, videos circulated on social media appearing to show Palestinians being shot at as they try to move from south Gaza to the north to check on their homes
• At least 60 aid lorries have entered Gaza since the pause - Israel says eight of the lorries are bringing in fuel, part of 130,000 litres to be delivered each day of the truce

Image source, Reuters

A total of 39 Palestinian detainees have been released by Israel, and celebrations can be seen in the West Bank as people welcomed them home.

The 24 women and 15 teenage boys were released across the Beitunia checkpoint, near Ramallah.

They were greeted by a crowd of people waving flags, and fireworks can be seen overhead.

Image source, AFP

Image source, Reuters