By Nidal al-Mghrabi and Ali Sawafta
Cairo / Ramallah (Reuters)-Thousands of Palestinians chanted Hamas’ praise on Saturday while they welcomed prisoners released as part of a cease-fire contract between the militant group and Israel who saw four Israeli hostages also go home.
In Ramallah, in the West Bank occupied by Israeli, many transported detainees released on their shoulders by jubilant crowds that had waited for hours that the buses transported the prisoners.
Some praised the Palestinian flags or the flags of the Palestinian factions, including Hamas, the Gaza leading group, its ally the Islamic jihad supported by Iran and the Fatah movement of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Inside the European Gaza Hospital south of the enclave, where 16 inmates released arrived for medical checks, thousands of people flocked to welcome them, singing Allahu Akbar “God is the biggest” and “Greeting to Qassam Brigades (Hamas Armed Wing).”
Ikhlas Balousha, a woman from Gazan, said that her brother’s release had brought happiness despite what she called destruction, suffering, famine and genocide experienced in the enclave.
“A feeling of dignity, of joy, a feeling of victory despite the pain-a moment when you could have been a martyr, but praise to God, Lord of the Worlds, who allowed us to see him,” she declared to Reuters.
The 200 Palestinians released on Saturday include activists, some serving perpetuity for attacks that have killed dozens of people, according to a list published by Hamas.
Gazans is waiting to return home to the north
Some have been released in the West Bank, while others returned to Gaza now in ruins after 15 months of war. Those who are considered the most dangerous by Israel were taken to Egypt before being exiled to a third country.
“I did not doubt that I would be released one day. I trusted it,” said Mohammad al-Arda, sentenced to life imprisonment over 15 years during his belonging to Islamic jihad. He was resumed in 2021 after having left his prison path through an improvised tunnel with three other prisoners.
“We were in lonely isolation, under pressure and pain. I swear to God that when I saw the happiness of my people, I have become happy too, a happiness that words cannot describe,” he said, after returning to Ramallah.
Israel says that people recognized for killing Israelis will not be allowed to go home. About 70 will be expelled in Egypt, Palestinian officials said, and from there to another country, perhaps Turkey, Qatar or Algeria. Palestinians call prisoners “heroes” and “freedom fighters”.
Naser Dawoud, a Hamas activist who spent 21 years in prison to serve two sorrows for life for participating in attacks on Israel, said that he could not believe that his name was among those to be released.
“I am a human being and I was condemned for life, I did not expect it to happen, there were efforts before, but this time that God blessed us,” he He told Reuters.
In the Gaza Strip, doctors at the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis began to check the health of newly out prisoners.
In a statement after the publication of Israeli hostages, Hamas said it had kept the well-being of the hostages while “the enemy tried to kill them (hostages)”.
Some prisoners released from the north of Gaza will have to stay in the south of the enclave for a while until Israel authorizes hundreds of thousands of North Gaza residents to return home, under the ceasefire -thef.
Hamas said it expected Israel to honored the roads by immediately pulling road forces dividing the north and south of the enclave to allow around 650,000 people to return home in areas from the North.
Witnesses said there was a stampede on a road leading to the north, blocked by Israeli troops who opened fire.
The doctors said that a person had been killed by an alleged Israeli fire, one of the death handles reported since the start of the truce. Two others were injured.
In a statement, the Israeli army said that in the Gaza Central Strip, the TSAhal troops identified several gatherings of dozens of suspects who posed a threat and the troops pulled out to cope with the threat . He said he didn’t know suspects yet following the shooting.