The Palestinians released overnight include 445 men, 24 women and minors detained in Gaza, as well as 151 prisoners serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis, according to a Hamas source.
One bus transported detainees from Israel’s Ofer prison in the Occupied West Bank to Ramallah where cheering crowds had gathered to greet them.
Bilal Yassin, 42, told Reuters he had been in Israeli detention for 20 years.
“Our sacrifices and imprisonment were not in vain,” Yassin said. “We had confidence in the resistance.”
Nearly 100 Palestinian prisoners were handed over to Egypt, where they will stay until another country accepts them, according to a Hamas source and Egyptian media.
