India, Feb. 22 -- Hamas on Saturday freed five hostages and it is set to release another from Gaza on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as a part of the ongoing ceasefire deal on Saturday.

Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23 were all abducted from the site of the Nova music festival during the October 7, 2023 attacks conducted by Hamas.

After their release, Israel Defense Forces said on X, "After 505 days, Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen and Omer Wenkert are finally home."

A large number of armed Hamas men had lined up to guard the hostages during the exchange when a hundreds of people had assembled to witness the moment.

Tal Shoham, 40 and Avera Mengistu, 39, the other two released hostages, w...