Photo showing Palestinian prisoners circulated on X
A statement from Hamas released Saturday said, "We condemned the occupation's crime of putting racist slogans on the backs of our heroic prisoners and treating them with cruelty and violence, in a violation of humanitarian laws and norms, in contrast to the resistance's commitment to moral values in treating the enemy's prisoners".
Upon returning to Gaza, freed prisoners burned uniforms marked with the Star of David and the slogan "We will not forgive, we will not forget" that Israel forced them to wear before being released today as part of the prisoner exchange deal, Quds News Network reported.
Israel released on Saturday 369 Palestinian prisoners, including 36 serving life sentences and 333 detainees from Gaza arrested after the deadliest-ever Israeli war on Gaza began on 7 October.
Thousands of Palestinians were eagerly awaiting the return of family and friends abducted by Israeli forces from Gaza and the West Bank during the war on the territory and arbitrarily detained without trial.
Buses carrying hundreds of them left jail in Israel's Negev desert heading to the Gaza Strip on Saturday, an AFP journalist reported
Shortly thereafter, another bus of Palestinian prisoners left the Israeli Ofer prison and headed to the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, another AFP journalist reported.
Quds News Network published photos of their arrival on buses near the European Hospital in Khan Younis as part of the sixth prisoners' swap.
Adel Tayseer Sobeih, one of the freed prisoners, told details of his suffering inside Israeli prisons, where he was subjected to medical negligence that led to the forced amputation of his leg.
Sobeih could not hold back his tears upon seeing thousands of people receiving him in Gaza, saying he couldn't believe there were still people in Gaza after being told in prison that Gaza existed no more.
Shortly afterwards, another bus of Palestinian prisoners left Israel's Ofer prison for Ramallah, an AFP journalist reported, where scores of family and friends similarly received them.
Among those freed in the sixth prisoner exchange were three brothers from Silwan in occupied Jerusalem—Musa, 63, Ibrahim, 55, and Khalil Sarahneh, 43—who spent 23 years in Israeli jails, according to Quds News Network.
Musa Sarahneh, the eldest, was carried out on an ambulance stretcher, his emaciated body reflecting the toll of nearly two decades in prison.
Al Jazeera said the Palestinian Red Crescent was transporting four of the prisoners released today in serious condition to the hospital.
Like in Gaza, emotional scenes unfolded in Ramallah as freed Palestinian prisoners were reunited with their families in the sixth prisoner exchange under the Israel-Hamas deal, Quds News Network reported, sharing exclusive footage on X.
Hassan Owais, a Palestinian prisoner from Jenin refugee camp, was among those freed in the prisoner exchange. Quds News Network shared footage on X of his reunion with his family after 23 years in Israeli prisons.
Palestinian resistance groups handed over three Israeli captives to the International Red Cross in exchange for 369 Palestinian detainees as part of the sixth exchange under the first phase of Gaza's ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Quds News Network shared a swap breakdown in a post on X.
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