New birth: Palestinians freed from Israeli jails return home

Prisoners want to spend first hours of freedom at home with their families

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With huge crowds waiting to welcome them home, Palestinian prisoners released by Israel yesterday under a Gaza ceasefire deal were overwhelmed with joy as they returned to their loved ones.

Some threw peace signs while others struggled to walk without assistance as they got off the bus and were met by a crowd cheering their return from Israel's jails to the West Bank city of Ramallah.

'Beautiful moment'

"It's an indescribable feeling, a new birth," Mahdi Ramadan, newly released, told AFP, flanked by his parents with whom he said he would spend his first evening out of jail.

Nearby, relatives exchanged hugs, young men in tears pressed their foreheads against each other some even fainting from the emotion of seeing loved ones again after years, and sometimes decades, in jail.