In pictures: Tears of joy and hugs as Palestinians welcome freed detainees
Families and relatives of freed Palestinian detainees embrace them after waiting for hours for their release.
A Palestinian prisoner is welcomed by relatives upon the arrival of some 90 prisoners / Photo: AFP
Tears of joy have flown across massive crowds of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank town of Beitunia as they welcomed the return of detainees freed from Israeli Ofer prison in the first exchange in the Gaza ceasefire deal.
Palestinians climbed on top of the buses transferring the detainees as they chanted and cheered in celebration.
The families and relatives were seen embracing their loved ones after waiting for hours in the town.
Here are some of the images
"All the prisoners being released today feel like family to us. They are part of us, even if they're not blood relatives," Amanda Abu Sharkh says.
A Palestinian woman embraces her freed son.
A freed Palestinian detainee gestures as he is carried aloft after being released.
"I'll hug her right away — of course, I'll hug her. At first, it'll just be tears of joy," a woman waiting for her mother's release says.
"I know a lot of people in prison, there are innocent people, children and women," a recently released detainee says.
"The wait was extremely hard. But thank God, we were certain that at any moment we would be released," Bushra al Tawil, a released detainee, says.
Over the next 42 days, around 1,900 Palestinians are due to be freed in exchange for 33 Israeli captives held by Hamas in Gaza.
Palestinians celebrate as they welcome their freed loved ones.
The 90 Palestinian detainees released included 69 women, eight male minors and 12 men sentenced for relatively minor offences.
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