By Louis BAUDOIN-LAARMAN
Two buses carrying Palestinian prisoners released in the Gaza ceasefire deal had to inch through a thick crowd when they at last arrived in the West Bank at 2 am Monday.
After the doors opened, women hugged their relatives and cried tears of joy while throngs of people chanted, waved flags and climbed atop the vehicles. Others lit fireworks in the normally quiet suburb of Beitunia.
Bushra al-Tawil, a Palestinian journalist jailed in Israel in March 2024, was among the first batch of prisoners to be released in the truce.
Over the next 42 days, around 1,900 Palestinians are due to be freed in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Tawil began her journey at 3 am the day before, when she was taken from her prison to another nearer the separation wall. There, she was grouped with other inmates awaiting movement.
"The wait was extremely hard. But thank God, we were certain that at any moment we would be released," she said.
Tawil had only learned she would be freed from other inmates who had attended a hearing.
"The lawyers told them the (ceasefire) deal had been announced and was in the implementation phase," said Tawil, whose father is also in an Israeli jail.
"I was worried about him. He is still a prisoner, but I just received good news that he will be released as part of this deal."
A crowd of hundreds of Palestinians pressed around Tawil and the 89 other prisoners released in exchange for three Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
Many in the crowd had gathered earlier on a hill in Beitunia for a view of Israel's Ofer prison, from where the prisoners were being released.
"We came here to witness it and feel the emotions, just like the families of the prisoners who are being released today," said Amanda Abu Sharkh, 23, from the nearby city of Ramallah.
'They feel like family'
"All the prisoners being released today feel like family to us. They are part of us, even if they're not blood relatives," she told AFP.
As night fell and the wait continued in the cold, dozens of small fires illuminated the stony hill.
Excitement grew when news broke that the three Israeli hostages had been released.
Muhammad, 20, said he had come from Ramallah with his friends as soon as he heard the development.
Recently released from Ofer prison himself, he expressed "great joy" at the thought of families being reunited.
"I know a lot of people in prison, there are innocent people, children and women," he said.
The prisoners set to be released during the initial 42-day ceasefire period include many held under administrative detention, which does not require formal charges.
Others are serving life sentences for attacks that killed Israelis.
Farther in Beitunia, even bigger crowds gathered at the roundabout where the prisoners were eventually dropped off, waving Palestinian and Hamas flags, chanting slogans and filling the streets in anticipation.
'There will be lots of crying'
An 18-year-old woman could barely contain her joy as she awaited her mother's release.
"I'll hug her right away -- of course, I'll hug her. At first, it'll just be tears of joy," she said.
"After that, she'll tell us about her time in prison, and we'll tell her about our lives without her. I'm sure there will be a lot of crying," she said as she stood by her brother, sister and aunt.
Her mother, a doctor, had been arrested in January 2024 in the north of the occupied West Bank for social media activity, she said.
"They accused her of incitement because of posts she wrote on Facebook," she said, calling the charges "ridiculous" for a middle-aged nurse and trained midwife.
Nearby, Oday waited with his family.
Though he had been freed after being arrested with his son at the start of the war, his son remains detained and is not on the initial release list.
Oday, who preferred not to give his last name for fear of jeopardising his son's release, said his son had been arrested for social media activity.
But he said he wanted to celebrate all the releases on Sunday night because he knows what captivity is like.
"You can't think for yourself and for your son only," he said, adding he was happy hostages were being released from Gaza as well.
AFP