1:03Palestinian ex-prisoners gaze from a bus after their liberation by Israel as part of an exchange involving hostages and prisoners, alongside a truce accord between Hamas and Israel, situated in Khan Younis within the southern Gaza Strip, October 13, 2025.Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
Amidst celebrations and emotional reunions that unfolded in Israel this Monday, marking the homecoming of the final 20 surviving hostages, parallel scenes of jubilation arose across the Gaza Strip as buses transporting liberated Palestinian detainees entered the war-ravaged territory.
Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement aimed at concluding the two-year conflict, over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners gained their freedom around the same time as the Israeli hostages. Roughly 1,700 among them were Palestinians taken into custody by Israel in Gaza since the war’s onset in October 2023, in the wake of Hamas’ militant incursion into Israel. The arrangement stipulated that none of the individuals released on Monday had any involvement in the Oct. 7 assaults.
Palestinian prisoners are greeted after being released from Israeli confinement following a ceasefire understanding between Israel and Hamas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Oct. 13, 2025.Mahmoud Illean/AP
"It represented an unutterable ordeal of anguish — starvation, unjust handling, maltreatment, torment, and denouncements — exceeding anything conceivable," relayed Kamal Abu Shanab, 51, a recently freed prisoner, to The Associated Press upon his return to Gaza.
Israeli authorities stated that the prisoners were discharged from Ofer Prison in the West Bank, along with Ketziot Prison in Negev, recognized as Israel’s preeminent detention center operated by the nation’s armed forces.
The majority of prisoners found release in Gaza, with a portion set free in the West Bank, which also constitutes Palestinian territory bordering Israel. Others underwent deportation, directed toward Egypt.
Palestinian men gesture from inside a bus after being released from the Ofer military prison located between Ramallah and Beitunia in the occupied West Bank on October 13, 2025, in exchange for hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since the October 7 attacks.Hazem Bader/AFP via Getty Images
Among those directed to the West Bank was Omar Bseis, liberated after a 24-year confinement in Israel, as indicated by the Palestinian Prisoners' Office.
The prisoner organization disseminated a video clip on social media illustrating Bseis’ reunification with his family, featuring a woman overcome with emotion, tightly embracing Bseis' arm as he smiled.
Thousands of Palestinians thronged the avenues of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, as buses from the International Committee of the Red Cross carrying the newly freed prisoners, made their way into the city. Video evidence displayed armed individuals chaperoning the buses through the locality, discharging firearms skyward.
A freed Palestinian prisoner is greeted after being released from an Israeli jail as part of a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, in Ramallah , in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, October 13, 2025.Ammar Awad/Reuters
Visuals captured in the footage showcased the ex-prisoners extending themselves from bus windows, gesturing toward the multitude welcoming them back to their homeland. Additional detainees were noticed signaling peace symbols from within the bus windows.
While the buses endeavored to navigate through an overpopulated thoroughfare, a liberated prisoner made out a recognizable person, a friend or family member, within the assembly. Spectators then elevated that individual to the bus window for a brief embrace with the returned detainee, prior to the vehicle’s continued movement.
The released individuals disembarked from the buses at Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital, where a substantial gathering congregated to receive them. As certain passengers came forth, individuals within the crowd hoisted them onto their shoulders, proceeding towards the hospital’s entrance, as displayed within the video recordings.
Among the liberated prisoners were 250 Palestinians who had served protracted imprisonment relating to calamitous assaults executed against Israel, events that transpired spanning multiple decades, as reported by Israel’s Justice Ministry to The Associated Press.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
