Israel will release 550 Palestinian detainees in line with the second phase of a prisoner exchange deal with the resistance movement of Hamas.

The Palestinian prisoners are scheduled to be released late on Sunday, the Associated Press reported.

Prison officials said that 41 of the Palestinian detainees were returning to the Gaza Strip, with the rest being sent to the occupied West Bank.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum in Gaza said on Sunday, “We are proud of this great achievement.”

On October 18, 477 Palestinian prisoners were freed from Israeli jails as the first part of the deal to release 1,027 Palestinian inmates in exchange for Hamas-captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Shalit was captured in June 2006 by Palestinian resistance fighters after he infiltrated into the Gaza Strip.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said in October that the prisoners were “heroes” who had returned home “with victory.”