'May God reward them': Freed from Israeli dungeons, Palestinians laud Hamas and 'Gaza's martyrs'

Firecrackers have lit up the night sky as raucous celebrations — mixed with defiance — marked the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails in exchange for the first wave of captives released by the resistance group Hamas in besieged Gaza.

Crowds across the occupied West Bank cheered and waved Palestinian and Hamas flags, along with kaffiyeh scarves, after two white coaches — escorted by armoured vehicles — exited the Ofer military camp with the prisoners.

"I am happy, but my liberation came at the price of the blood of the martyrs," said Marah Bakir, 24, referring to the nearly 15,000 Palestinians killed by Israel across the besieged Gaza.

Freedom from "the four walls of the prison" was "magnificent", said Bakir, who had been in custody for eight years.

"I spent the end of my childhood and my adolescence in prison, far from my parents and their hugs," she told the AFP news agency after returning to her family home in Beit Hanina in the occupied East Jerusalem.

"That's how it is with a state that oppresses us."

'Eating bitterness'

Israel released a total of 39 Palestinians under a truce agreement to pause the fighting in besieged Gaza after 13 captives from Israel had been handed over.

Palestinian officials say more people have been killed in besieged Gaza in the current wave of Israeli strikes than during the two intifadas put together.

Hanan Al Barghouti, 58, released after two months in Israeli custody, lauded the armed wing of Hamas, its leader, and the people of besieged Gaza.

"May God reward them well on our behalf," she said.

"If it were not for the people of Gaza, we would not have seen freedom.

"We were inside the prison, eating bitterness. They were sadists. They insulted us and humiliated us, but our pride is high, and our dignity is elevated, thanks to the resistance."

Palestinians wearing grey jumpers were paraded in Beitunia in the occupied West Bank in front of euphoric supporters, many of whom broke down in tears.

Before their release, clouds of white smoke filled the air close to the prison as Israeli authorities fired tear gas to disperse the crowds.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said three people were shot and wounded by Israeli security forces.

"The Israeli police are at our house and are preventing people from coming to see us," said Fatina Salman, the mother of Malak, 23, who was arrested on the way to school in 2016 for trying to stab a police officer in Jerusalem.

She was not due to be released until 2025 but returned to a triumphant welcome in her neighbourhood of Beit Safafa.

"My daughter is weak, she hasn't eaten since yesterday," said Salman.

'Tears of joy'

In West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and illegal Jewish settlers since October 7, according to the Health Ministry of the Palestinian Authority.

Heavily armed Israeli troops have again carried out raids in Palestinian towns, manoeuvres supposedly eliminated in some areas of the occupied West Bank by the Oslo Accords.

But Friday was a night of celebration for many Palestinians.

"I'm very happy to be with my family and very happy that I will start a new life with them," said Bakir.

"I'm also thrilled to see how happy they are," she said, adding: "Yes, they are crying, but it's the tears of joy."

17-year-old Laith Othman, who was siezed earlier this year on suspicion of throwing an incendiary device and released on Friday, said: "I can't express how I feel. Thank God."

"The situation inside [prison] is very difficult," he said as he was carried along the street on someone's shoulders."

Ismail Shaheen, speaking from the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, said he was waiting to see his daughter Fatima, who was seized by Israelis earlier this year, accused of an attempted stabbing.

The 32-year-old computer scientist, who has a five-year-old daughter, was shot during her arrest.

Shaheen said he was surprised to see his daughter in a wheelchair when he was first allowed to visit her in prison, months after she was detained.

"Thank God she was released in this exchange deal," he said. "We were happy that she was going to be released but only slightly so because we cannot ignore the dire conditions of our brothers in Gaza, where thousands have been killed."