Tears, cheers as Palestinians welcome freed prisoners home under Gaza ceasefire

Overwhelmed with emotion, Palestinians poured into the streets of Gaza and the occupied West Bank to welcome home freed prisoners under a US-brokered ceasefire deal — a day marked by tears, cheers, and the bittersweet weight of loss and hope.

The prisoners were released after the Hamas militant group freed the last 20 living hostages taken during the October 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war in Gaza.

Under the deal, Israel is set to release 250 Palestinians convicted of murder and other serious crimes as well as 1,700 Palestinians detained in Gaza since the war began, 22 Palestinian minors, and the bodies of 360 militants.

Several thousand people gathered inside and around the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, awaiting the arrival of freed prisoners, with some waving Palestinian flags and others holding pictures of their relatives.

Fighting back tears, one woman who asked to be identified as Um Ahmed said she said that despite her joy at the release, she still had “mixed feelings” about the day.

Freed prisoners arrived in buses, some of them posing from the windows, flashing V-for-Victory signs. They will undergo medical checks at the facility.

Earlier, about a dozen masked and black-clad gunmen, members of Hamas’ armed wing, arrived at the hospital where a stage and chairs had been laid out to welcome returning Palestinian prisoners.

Loudspeakers blared songs celebrating the Palestinian national cause.

Hamas said 154 prisoners were also deported to Egypt.

During previous releases, mass gatherings had flooded entire streets in Ramallah, with people waving Palestinian flags as well as those of political factions including Hamas.

‘Live my life’

Dressed in the grey tracksuits of Israeli prisons, many prisoners also wore a black-and-white kuffiyeh around their necks — the traditional scarf that has become synonymous with the Palestinian cause.

Some of the newly released prisoners happily let themselves be carried away on relatives’ shoulders.

“Prisoners live on hope… Coming home, to our land, is worth all the gold in the world,” said one freed detainee, Samer al-Halabiyeh.

“God willing, peace will prevail, and the war on Gaza will stop,” Halabiyeh added.

“Now I just want to live my life.”

Journalists rushed to talk to the prisoners, but many declined to engage, sometimes explaining that before their release, they were advised not to speak.

In the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis, a crowd gathered near Nasser Hospital, in the hope of catching sight of the prisoners taken during the war with Israel.

In the afternoon, thousands cheered to welcome their loved ones as they caught glimpse of the buses carrying them home.