Newly released Palestinian prisoners flashed victory signs to cheering crowds who gathered on Monday to watch them step into freedom under the new cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.<\/p>\n
Families waited at dawn in the West Bank city of Ramallah and broke into teary-eyed trills as buses carrying some of the nearly 2,000 released prisoners and detainees approached. They rushed forward to greet the men as they stepped off. Many of the men looked haggard and exhausted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis feeling is indescribable,\u201d said Nasser Shehadeh, who was released after serving three years of a 17-year sentence for a car ramming attack on two soldiers, who survived. He was told he would be freed three days ago, and said the news came as a surprise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t slept since that moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On Monday afternoon, the Israeli prison service said it had freed all of the 1,968 Palestinians slated for release in an exchange for all the remaining hostages in Gaza. They were sent to the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n
Among those freed were 250 Palestinians convicted of terrorism offenses or acts of violence against Israelis and roughly 1,700 more who were detained in Gaza without charge during the war.<\/p>\n
The 250 convicts were mostly affiliated with Fatah, a rival Palestinian faction to Hamas, and were serving life sentences for attacks in the 1980s or 1990s.<\/p>\n
More than 150 of them were sent into exile. The Gaza residents among them were taken through the Rafah border crossing which links Gaza to Egypt, according to the Hamas Prisoners\u2019 Media Office.<\/p>\n
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said one prisoner was transferred to Ramallah Hospital from Ofer Prison, while seven others were hospitalized after they were dropped off in Ramallah.<\/p>\n
Mr. Shehadeh\u2019s father, Bilal, said he was disturbed by his son\u2019s condition. They had not seen each other since the war began more than two years ago, and in that time, his son had lost roughly 100 pounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were not just deprived of food. They were not even allowed to clean themselves or to have soap,\u201d the father said. \u201cOur priority now is to make sure Nasser gets the medical attention he needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Halima Abu Shanab, 53, said she was both overjoyed and alarmed by the sight of her brother, Kamal Abu Shanab. The Israeli authorities<\/a> said he was convicted of murder and membership in a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re happy, truly happy, that he\u2019s home,\u201d she said. \u201cBut his health, it\u2019s really bad. I was not prepared to see him like this.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Abu Shanab, 51, had spent 23 years in prison. When he emerged from the bus on Monday, he was covered in bruises, Ms. Abu Shanab said. She added that he had a shoulder injury that had not been treated in eight months. His family took him directly to a hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was beaten badly and humiliated,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd left with wounds on his knees and body.\u201d<\/p>\n The Israel Prison Service said it was not aware of the family\u2019s claims of mistreatment made by the released prisoners and detainees on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Israel Prison Service operates in accordance with the law,\u201d a spokesman for the agency said. \u201cWe are not aware of the claims described, and to the best of our knowledge, no such incidents occurred under I.P.S. responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n This is not the first time Israel has released prisoners or detainees who killed Israeli civilians in exchange for hostages, but it is nevertheless difficult for many in Israel.<\/p>\n In 2011, Israel exchanged more than 1,000 prisoners and detainees for Gilad Shalit<\/a>, a soldier who had been held captive in Gaza for five years. Several of those released prisoners and detainees \u2014 including Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who was killed last year \u2014 would go on to plan the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack.<\/p>\n One of the prisoners and detainees released in 2011 was Murad Abdallah Adais, who was convicted of killing Dafna Meir in 2016. Her daughter, Renana Meir, criticized his release in an anguished essay in an Israeli newspaper.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the terrorist is let out of prison in the coming agreement, you will pay the price,\u201d she wrote. \u201cEvery Israeli in every house in Israel will be less safe.\u201d<\/p>\n Others had more mixed feelings.<\/p>\n Abraham Moses, 75, the chairman of Israel\u2019s National Organization of Victims of Terror, said he and his children wept when they learned that Muhammad Adel Daoud would be freed. He was convicted in 1989<\/a> of killing Mr. Moses\u2019s wife, Ofra, and 5-year-old son, Tal, in 1987.<\/p>\n But then Mr. Moses decided that if seeing Mr. Daoud go free could save the families of hostages from that same pain, then his release might be worth it.<\/p>\n \u201cImagine the feeling of families who would embrace their loved ones returning from hell,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Some of the families who were waiting in Ramallah for their imprisoned loved ones left despondent on Monday after learning that their relatives were not among those released.<\/p>\n