Published: January 25, 2025 4:58 pm
Author: RT
Crowds lined the streets of Ramallah to greet the captives, who were exchanged for four Israeli soldiers
Some 200 Palestinians have been released from Israeli jails as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal. In exchange, Palestinian militant group Hamas has freed four female Israeli soldiers.
Israel’s prison service confirmed the release of the 200 captives on Saturday, noting that 121 had been serving life sentences for killing Israelis, while the remainder had been held without charge.
The prisoners exited Israel’s Ofer and Ktziot prisons and were examined by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) before 128 were returned to their homes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. The remainder were deported, with Egypt taking in 70, according to state media in Cairo.
Video footage shared on social media showed crowds cheering as the first prisoners arrived on buses in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Gunmen marched in front of the buses as onlookers hoisted the flags of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other militant groups. After disembarking, the prisoners were held aloft and carried through the crowd by well-wishers.
Recently released Palestinian prisoners that were facing life sentences, enter Ramallah as flags from Hamas, Fatah, DFLP, and PFLP wave around them.
Prisoners released:
81 Hamas life sentences
23 PIJ life sentences
13 Fatah life sentences
2 PFLP life sentences
1 DFLP life… pic.twitter.com/QaBciBb5Ap— B ☪︎ ☭ (@Borba1917) January 25, 2025
Amazing scenes in Ramallah. Truly.
Palestinian captives just released are carried on the shoulders of hundreds of Palestinians — flags from Fatah, PFLP, and Hamas all raised in the same place.
An instance of Palestinian unity. pic.twitter.com/2vb6cTPwzt
— Naks Bilal (@NaksBilal) January 25, 2025
Earlier on Saturday, Hamas presented four female Israeli soldiers on a stage in Gaza City, before ICRC officials arrived and exchanged papers with officials from the militant group. The four women were then taken to Red Cross vehicles and driven away.
Israeli officials said that the soldiers would be taken to an army medical facility to undergo an initial checkup, and would later be transferred to a hospital to meet with their families.
READ MORE: Hamas releases four Israeli soldiers (VIDEO)
Earlier this month, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement to end their 15-month conflict, which brought unprecedented devastation to Gaza. The deal, which was mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the US, is split into three phases, with Hamas expected to release 33 hostages, including children, female soldiers, the wounded, and sick, in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinians during the first stage.
The first three hostages were freed last week, in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.
