Israel freed 183 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, shortly after three Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 were released by the terror group in the Gaza Strip.

According to Palestinian authorities, 18 of the prisoners were serving life sentences, and over 100 were from the Gaza Strip and were arrested after October 7, 2023 and held without trial.

Thirty prisoners, including three serving life sentences, were to be released for hostages Keith Siegel and Ofer Kalderon each, and 12 prisoners serving life sentences were to be released for Yarden Bibas.

In addition to the specified number of Palestinian prisoners to be freed per released hostage, Israel has also agreed to release over 1,000 Gazan detainees over the course of the agreement’s implementation.

On Saturday, Israel freed 111 detainees who were detained by troops in the Gaza Strip but were not involved in the October 7 onslaught.

Of the 183 released in total, 150 were sent back to or deported to the Gaza Strip, 32 were released to the West Bank, and one was sent to Egypt.

Inmates being sent to the West Bank were released from Ofer Prison near Ramallah, the Israel Prison Service said, while other prisoners were freed from Ktzi’ot Prison in southern Israel and brought to the Kerem Shalom Crossing into Gaza, near the Egyptian border.

“Prison Service troops are acting to release terrorists in line with the diplomatic deal for the return of the hostages, in full coordination with all security services,” the IPS said in a statement.

According to the Ynet news site, those released included Egyptian national Fareeq Barikat, jailed for his role in a deadly suicide bombing at an Eilat bakery in 2007, and Salim Awad, a Fatah member involved in the planning of a 2002 attack on the West Bank settlement of Homesh in which three Israelis were killed.

One of the most prominent Palestinians released was Gaza aid worker Mohammed el-Halabi, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for funding the Hamas terror group in a high-profile case that drew criticism from rights groups.

El-Halabi had worked as the Palestinian manager of the Gaza branch of World Vision, a major Christian aid organization.

He was arrested in 2016 and accused of diverting tens of millions of dollars to Hamas. Both el-Halabi, 47, and World Vision vigorously denied the allegations.

Saturday’s releases will take the number of Palestinian prisoners set free under the ceasefire and hostage deal to 583.