Monday was a red letter day for hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli families, as around 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel was released, while all 20 living Israeli prisoners held in Gaza were also freed.
In addition, bodies of four Israeli hostages who died in captivity in Gaza were handed over to the Red Cross by Hamas.
However, at least 154 Palestinian prisoners who were freed on Monday will be forced into exile by Israel, a move that families say has turned their long-awaited freedom ‘bittersweet’, Al Jazeera reported.
In Khan Yunis, thousands of people erupted with joy as Red Cross buses brought back nearly 1,700 former prisoners.
Some climbed the sides of the slowly-moving buses as they weaved their way through the dense crowds gathered at Nasser Hospital, to hug or kiss a loved one they recognised.
“The greatest joy is seeing my whole family gathered to welcome me,” Yusef Afana, a 25-year-old released prisoner from north Gaza, told AFP. “I spent 10 months in prison – some of the hardest days I’ve ever lived.
At Nasser Hospital, men in military fatigues and black balaclavas struggled to keep order as the prisoners wearing the Israel Prison Service’s grey jumpsuits came off the buses.
Patriotic music blared on speakers, while Palestinian flags flew alongside those of Hamas or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Shadi Abu Sidu, a 32-year-old from Gaza City’s Rimal neighbourhood, said that he and other prisoners were mistreated in jail. “Even right before our release, they continued to mistreat and humiliate us,” he told AFP.
“But now, we hope to erase those painful memories and begin life .”
