A third group of 39 Palestinian prisoners was released on Sunday, as the captive-for-prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel continued for a third day as part of the four-day truce agreement.
As part of the agreement, 13 Israeli captives were released in the Palestinian territory, as well as three Thais and a dual Russian-Israeli citizen.
Large crowds of Palestinians took to the streets of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, on Sunday evening, waiting for Red Cross buses transporting the prisoners.
Some waved Palestinian flags, alongside those of the two main Palestinian political parties: Hamas and Fatah. Some young people climbed on top of a white bus carrying mainly young men, but also released female prisoners.
“At first we didn’t believe it,” Shakir Mahajna told Tel Aviv Tribune as he waited with his family for his son Omar, who recently turned 18.
“The last time I visited him, he was frustrated, he told me, ‘Dad, I want to leave,'” Mahajna said. Her son was 16 when he was arrested and had four months left on his sentence.
“After what happened in October, I was even more afraid,” Nour Ara’ar, whose brother Zeid, 17, was arrested in July, told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“Everything was suspended because of the war,” she added. “The trial did not take place.”
“We are happy, but we have mixed feelings. Our joy is incomplete because of what is happening in Gaza,” she added.