BEITUNIA, Palestinian Territories: Once the prisoners were released from Ofer prison, they disembarked off a bus carrying Palestinian detainees on Saturday in the West Bank town of Betania, an AFP correspondent reported.
Following the release of three Israeli captives by Hamas in Gaza in a fourth such swap arranged under the ceasefire agreement, the prisoners left the Israeli prison in the occupied West Bank.
The bus arrived in Beitunia, close to Ramallah, where inmates disembarked and were welcomed by jubilant families, according to an AFP correspondent.
Earlier, in a dramatic display of force against the backdrop of breaking waves, rows of Hamas fighters gathered on Gaza’s shoreline on Saturday to hand over an Israeli-American hostage.
A stage had been set up at a harbor in Gaza City for Keith Siegel’s handover.
Near a fisherman’s wharf, green Hamas and Palestinian flags fluttered in a fierce sea wind.
Prior to it, the war-torn southern city of Khan Yunis witnessed the quick and well-organized handover of Israeli Yarden Bibas and Franco-Israeli Ofer Kalderon.
Siegel, 65, was swiftly led by fighters to the platform while sporting a dark-grey helmet and a black tracksuit. Before being turned over to the Red Cross, he waved to the cameras and onlookers.
As he mounted the platform, the occupational therapist who had been taken from his house and his wife Aviva, who had been freed during a truce in November 2023, seemed to have some trouble moving.
Prior to Siegel’s release, the stage was flanked by orderly lines of numerous militants with heavy weapons, only their eyes visible behind masks.
Some fighters were carrying RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) and other weapons on a line of pickups.
