Huge crowds welcome freed Palestinian prisoners back to Gaza
As celebrations and tearful reunions broke out in Israel on Monday as the last 20 living hostages returned home, similar joyful scenes emerged across the Gaza Strip as buses carrying freed Palestinian prisoners entered the war-torn territory.
As part of the ceasefire deal to end the two-year war, more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners were released around the same time as the Israeli hostages. About 1,700 of them were Palestinians detained by Israel in Gaza since the war began in October 2023, following Hamas' terrorist attack in Israel. The deal specified that none of those released on Monday were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks.
"It was an indescribable journey of suffering -- hunger, unfair treatment, oppression, torture and curses -- more than anything you could imagine," one of the released prisoners, 51-year-old Kamal Abu Shanab, told The Associated Press upon arriving back in Gaza.
The prisoners were released from the Ofer Prison in the West Bank and the Ketziot Prison in Negev, Israel's largest detention facility run by the country's army, Israeli officials said.
Most of the prisoners were released in Gaza and some were freed in the West Bank, the other Palestinian territory bordering Israel. Others were deported and sent to Egypt.
One prisoner who went to the West Bank was Omar Bseis, who was freed after being held in Israel for 24 years, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Office.
The prisoner organization posted a video on social media of Bseis being reunited with his relatives, with one woman breaking down in tears and clutching a smiling Bseis' arm.
Thousands of Palestinians crowded the streets of Khan Younis in southern Gaza as International Committee of the Red Cross buses carrying the freed prisoners entered the city. Video footage showed armed men escorting the buses through the town, firing guns into the air.
The freed prisoners could be seen in the videos leaning out of bus windows and waving at the crowd welcoming them back home. Others were seen flashing peace signs from the bus windows.
As the buses tried to push through a crowded street, one of the released prisoners spotted a familiar face of a friend or relative in the crowd. People hoisted that individual up to the bus window to briefly embrace the freed detainee before the vehicle moved on.
The released prisoners exited the buses at Khan Younis' Nasser Hospital, where a large crowd gathered to welcome them. As some of the passengers emerged, people in the crowd hoisted them on their shoulders and carried them to the hospital entrance, the videos showed.
The released prisoners included 250 Palestinians who served long-term prison sentences stemming from deadly attacks carried out on Israel dating back decades, Israel's Justice Ministry told The Associated Press.
