Thousands of people celebrated in Gaza and the West Bank on Monday, as busloads of freed Palestinians arrived from Israeli jails under a ceasefire agreement.
In the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, former detainees waved from the windows of buses and reached out to touch the hands of people on the ground.
Some climbed the sides of the slowly-moving buses as they weaved their way through the dense crowds gathered at Nasser Hospital, to hug or kiss a loved one they recognised.
"The greatest joy is seeing my whole family gathered to welcome me," Yusef Afana, a 25-year-old released prisoner from north Gaza, told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.
"I spent 10 months in prison — some of the hardest days I've ever lived. The pain in prison isn't only physical; it's pain in the soul."
Emotional scenes unfolded throughout the region on Monday, as a fragile ceasefire continued to hold and 20 hostages were returned to Israel by Hamas following two years of captivity and Israel's devastating bombardment of Gaza.
Under a US-brokered ceasefire deal, the hostages were set free in exchange for the release of about 1,700 Palestinians detained without charge under "administrative detention" policies by the Israeli army in Gaza during the war, and around 250 Palestinian prisoners, including some convicted by Israeli courts of killing Israelis.
Some of them had spent decades in prison, serving life sentences.
The released detainees were taken by Red Cross buses to Khan Younis. Of the 250 prisoners who were set free, more than 150 were exiled to Egypt, according to the Associated Press.
The rest were returning to homes in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
'An indescribable feeling'
In the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, a large crowd gathered to greet a group of roughly 100 prisoners released under the deal.
Some threw victory signs while others struggled to walk without assistance as they got off the bus and were met by a crowd cheering their return.
"It's an indescribable feeling, a new birth," Mahdi Ramadan told AFP, flanked by his parents, with whom he said he would spend his first evening out of jail.
Nearby, relatives exchanged hugs, young men in tears pressed their foreheads against each other — some even fainting from the emotion of seeing loved ones again after years, and sometimes decades, in jail.
Some of the newly released prisoners happily let themselves be carried away on relatives' shoulders.
"Prisoners live on hope ... Coming home, to our land, is worth all the gold in the world," said one freed detainee, Samer al-Halabiyeh.
"God willing, peace will prevail, and the war on Gaza will stop," he added. "Now I just want to live my life."
Israeli warnings not to celebrate
Celebrations took place despite Israeli warnings against doing so.
"No reception is allowed, no celebration is allowed, no gatherings," said Alaa Bani Odeh, who came from the northern town of Tammun to find his 20-year-old son who had been jailed for four years.
Several prisoners told media they intended to spend time with family at home in their first hours of freedom.
During previous releases, mass gatherings had flooded entire streets in Ramallah, with people waving Palestinian flags as well as those of political factions including Hamas.
— With additional reporting from Agence France-Presse.
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