The first Palestinian prisoners released by Israel arrive at their destination in Ramallah

The first Palestinian prisoners released by Israel as part of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas in Gaza arrived around 12:50 local time (9:50 GMT) at Ramallah square where dozens of family members and friends were waiting for them.

In that square, in front of the Culture Palace of the capital of occupied West Bank, scenes of joy have been witnessed at the arrival of the released prisoners from the two Red Cross buses that transported them from the Israeli Ofer prison, located a few kilometers from there.

Freed Palestinians carried Palestinian scarves and some appeared making the victory sign with their hands, before embracing their loved ones. Members of the Red Crescent assisted them as they exited the vehicles.

The release of the prison buses occurred coinciding with the news that the last Hamas hostages held captive in Gaza were already in Israeli territory.

And his arrival at Ramallah square, just before the US President, Donald Trump, began to give, with a two-hour delay, his speech before the Knesset (parliament) of Israel, where he is visiting before traveling to Egypt for the Gaza Peace Summit.

Hamas handed over to the Red Cross this Monday, in two installments, the 20 hostages who had been held captive in Gaza for two years, and now the stage opens in which it must hand over the remains of the 48 dead hostages, although it is expected that several of them are not yet.

In exchange for the hostages, Israel will release 1,968 Palestinian prisoners this Monday, of whom 154 will be deported, announced the main associations representing the prisoners from both Hamas and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

“250 prisoners (with life sentences) will be released as part of the agreement today, Monday, including 154 deportees and 96 non-deportees, among whom are eight for Gaza and 88 who will be released in the West Bank and Jerusalem,” announced the Prisoners Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners Club, the associations linked to the PA, which governs in strongholds of the occupied West Bank.

The Asra (“Prisoners” in Arabic), the association linked to Hamas, also reported that 1,718 prisoners from Gaza will be released in the Strip.

In the case of the more than 1,700 who will be released in Gaza, the group includes people detained in the enclave in the last two years, many of them without charges under the “administrative detention” system during the Israeli Army’s operations in the Strip.