Broadcasted footage on Saturday showed some of the prisoners, wearing grey tracksuits, disembarking from two buses on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza [GETTY]
Seventy Palestinians arrived aboard buses in Egypt on Saturday after being released from Israel as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal, state-linked Egyptian media reported.
Al-Qahera News, which is linked to state intelligence, said the detainees were those “deported” by Israel, adding they would be transferred to Egyptian hospitals for treatment.
According to a list previously made public by Israeli authorities, over 230 Palestinians are to be released under the deal. They will be permanently expelled from the Palestinian territories upon their release.
Crowds of Palestinians erupted in joy as they welcomed the now-freed Palestinians who arrived aboard buses in Ramallah, an AFP journalist reported.
Broadcasted footage on Saturday showed some of them, wearing grey tracksuits, disembarking from two buses on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.
After transiting in Egypt, the deported prisoners “will choose either Algeria, Turkey or Tunisia” to reside, Amin Shuman, head of the Palestinian prisoners’ affairs committee, told AFP.
“It’s an indescribable feeling,” one of those released told Al-Qahera News, smiling and waving from the bus window.
The prisoners transferred from the Ktziot prison in Israel’s Negev desert into Egypt are part of a group of 200 prisoners released Saturday in exchange for four Israeli soldiers freed by Hamas in Gaza.
