3 Israeli hostages released as Gaza ceasefire takes effect

Meanwhile, Gazans are immersed in celebrations marking the end of over 15 months of deadly Israeli strikes.

The ceasefire ended an Israeli offensive that claimed more than 46,900 Palestinian lives, according to Gaza's health authorities. The deadly fighting also razed much of Gaza and caused widespread hunger and diseases in the strip.

Among the three released women are Emily Damari, a 28-year-old British-Israeli and Doron Steinbrecher, a Romanian-Israeli veterinary nurse aged 30, both of whom were abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza outside northern Gaza, and Romi Gonen, 23, who was taken from the Nova music festival.

A live broadcast from Gaza showed the hostages, freed from 471 days of captivity, being transferred from a Hamas vehicle surrounded by armed militants to a Red Cross vehicle, which transported them to Israeli forces.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office released photos of the women embracing their mothers at a military compound outside Gaza. Later, helicopters flew them to Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, where they received medical and psychological care.