Day of celebration in Ramallah as hundreds of Palestinians released from Israeli jails arrive

They struggle to make their way through the crowd because it is so compact. Dozens of Palestinian prisoners were greeted with jubilation on Monday in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

Some sketch a V for victory drawn with their fingers, most smile as they leave the bus that took them from an Israeli prison to a cultural center in the city where the Palestinian Authority is based.

"It's an indescribable feeling, a rebirth," Mahdi Ramadan, a prisoner who has just been released, told AFP by his two parents.

Kisses forehead to forehead and sobs of emotion let loose in a feverish assembly, for many, it is the first reunion, outside of prison, in years, even decades.

Among the Palestinians to be released, 250 are people "detained for security reasons," many of whom were convicted of deadly anti-Israeli attacks, but also 1,700 Palestinians arrested by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.

Israel agreed to release them in exchange for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, all as part of the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to end the war sparked by Hamas' unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and which has since ravaged the Gaza Strip.

No celebration

Rather than a reunion, it will be a real meeting for Nour Soufan. At 27, he was born a few months after his father's arrest. The family came from Nablus and spent the night in their car.

"I'm very moved, of course, it's a great happiness, but you can't really rejoice as long as there's war, nobody likes war, nowhere in the world, we hope for peace, not only in Palestine, but all over the world," he told AFP.

Like him, others have come from far away, struggling to reach Ramallah in the central West Bank. Several people mention the difficulties of movement due to the many Israeli roadblocks erected in this territory since the beginning of the war in Gaza.

On Sunday, Palestinian media reported that families of detainees had been contacted by Israeli authorities urging them not to hold mass celebrations around the releases.

"They [Israel] forbid gatherings, celebrations, reception," said Alaa Bani Odeh, who came to be with his 20-year-old son, four of whom have been detained.

Interviewed by AFP, several ex-prisoners and relatives described the same plan for the coming hours: to return home, and to stay calmly with their families.

In previous releases, prisoners were examined by doctors, and demonstrations of joy flooded entire streets of Ramallah, where Palestinian flags were waved alongside pennants of political movements, including Hamas.

'All the gold in the world'

Dressed in the grey fleece tracksuits of Israeli prisons, many prisoners also wear a black and white keffiyeh around their necks, the traditional Palestinian headscarf sometimes claimed as a rallying sign by members of Fatah, the movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Some struggle to walk without help, and others seem surprised by the surroundings they discover.

Rescue workers evacuated several people who had fainted, both relatives of prisoners and prisoners themselves.

"The prisoners live on hope ... To return home, to our land, is worth all the gold in the world," said released detainee Samer al-Halabiyeh, "now I just want to live my life."

Swarms of journalists rush to ask questions of the prisoners, but most immediately decline, sometimes saying that before their release, they were advised not to speak.

In the south of the Gaza Strip, in Khan Younis, the crowd has been stamping its feet since the morning near the Nasser hospital. By early afternoon, the released inmates had still not arrived.