Jubilant crowds waving Hamas and Islamic Jihad flags defied a ban on celebrations to welcome 90 Palestinian prisoners home to the West Bank yesterday.

The Israeli government had warned that ‘public displays of joy’ could lead to the detainees being re-arrested.

But thousands lined the streets, shouting and whistling, as three Red Cross buses delivered the 69 women and 21 boys - some as young as 12 - to the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

Relatives of Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher — the three Israeli hostages set to be released later today — express their joy that their loved ones are coming home, but say there’s a “long road ahead.”

Eitan Gonen tells the Kan public broadcaster that while Israeli officials have not provided information on his daughter’s condition, “Romi is finally coming home, alive, there is nothing more joyful than that.”

A source close to the Damari family tells the BBC that it has been a “torturous 471 days but a particularly torturous 24 hours.”

Last Friday evening, Steven Witkoff, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, called from Qatar to tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's aides that he would be coming to Israel the following afternoon. The aides politely explained that was in the middle of the Sabbath but that the prime minister would gladly meet him Saturday night.

Senior Hamas official Izzat el-Risheq denies accusations that the terror group has reneged on some details of the hostage-ceasefire deal, and says it is committed to the agreement announced by mediators yesterday.

The Prime Minister’s Office has issued two statements in the past few hours accusing Hamas of backtracking on several issues.

A ceasefire deal has been reached to end 15 months of fighting in the Gaza Strip, Hamas and Israeli officials and a source briefed on the negotiations told NBC News on Wednesday.

The hard-won agreement will also free dozens of hostages held in Gaza, as well as Palestinians in Israeli jails, bringing the first real break in violence since a weeklong truce expired Dec. 1, 2023.

Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage release deal, with President-elect Trump publicly celebrating the news shortly after noon Wednesday.

No announcement had been made by the Biden administration as of noon Wednesday. An Israeli official confirmed to The Hill on Wednesday a deal has been reached, and predicted it would quickly move through a formal approval process.

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a cease-fire deal that also ensures the release of hostages, Fox News has confirmed.

"A Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal was reached following the Qatari Prime Minister's meeting with Hamas negotiators, and separately Israeli negotiators in his office," a source briefed on the matter told Fox News.

Separately, a senior Hamas official confirmed to Fox News that a deal was reached. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has yet to confirm the deal.

Both the outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Trump's people are pushing hard for a hostage deal and ceasefire agreement in Gaza. Many in Israel see reports about this possible deal as excruciating.

The ceasefire-hostage deal is still up in the air, but the U.S. is talking optimistically.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Hamas has accepted the draft of the deal, according to officials involved in the talks in Qatar. Israeli spokesmen say only that progress has been made.