The Times of Israel reports: “Israel on Monday freed nearly 2,000 Palestinians — including hundreds of terror convicts serving life terms — from its prisons as part of a deal to reach a ceasefire and release the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Shortly after 20 living hostages were freed, Israel put 1,968 Palestinian prisoners on buses that departed for the West Bank and Gaza.

Among those freed were 250 security prisoners, most of them serving one or more life terms for deadly attacks on Israelis. They include a Palestinian police officer who joined in the notorious lynching of two reservists at the start of the Second Intifada in 2000, a Gaza resident who raped and murdered a 13-year-old boy and dozens of other terrorists responsible for a series of suicide bombings and other attacks.

Hamas said 154 of the prisoners were deported to Egypt…”