A total of 1,966 Palestinians were released Monday from Israeli prisons, an official involved in the release said, Reuters reports..

All 1,966 Palestinian prisoners scheduled for release on Monday boarded buses from Israeli prisons.

Earlier, Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement reached an agreement on implementing the first phase of a peaceful plan to resolve the Gaza Strip conflict. Under the first phase, Hamas will release Israeli hostages, while Israel will withdraw its troops to the agreed-upon boundary within the Strip and release hundreds of Palestinians — including many sentenced to life for terrorism — from Israeli prisons.