Nearly 2,000 Palestinians who were imprisoned in Israel have been reunited with their families as part of an exchange for hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Warning: This story includes descriptions of assaults that some readers may find distressing
Hundreds of people gathered in Ramallah, in the West Bank, and at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in Gaza, to welcome their loved ones home on Monday.
About 250 prisoners, who were serving life sentences were released. Of those, Israel exiled 154, sending them to neighbouring Egypt, where officials said they would be sent to third countries.
Another 1,700 others arrested and detained in Gaza during the course of the war were also freed.
All of the prisoners from Gaza were detained in Israel without charge, the Associated Press reported, and those the ABC spoke to alleged they were mistreated and abused in Israeli custody.
"They beat us constantly. Not long ago, they hit me here; it's still inflamed," one detainee said upon his release.
The testimonies match the accounts of other Palestinians who say they have been abused and tortured in Israeli detention since October 7, 2023.
While Palestinians cautiously celebrate a breakthrough after two years of war, and the return of some prisoners and detainees, questions linger about what will come next as negotiations continue on a longer-term peace deal.
Muted celebrations in Ramallah after IDF warnings
Sitting in trees, on walls, in wheelchairs or dressed in traditional embroidery, Palestinians in the West Bank anxiously awaited the arrival of freed prisoners they had not seen for years, or even decades.
A few hours after all living Israeli hostages were returned from Gaza, the crowd that had gathered in Ramallah pushed past police lines to greet buses carrying about 80 men.
Waiting families said they had been called or visited by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ahead of the return of their relatives and told not to celebrate.
Fearful of retribution from the IDF, the atmosphere in Ramallah was filled with relief and subdued joy, mixed with trepidation.
Among the group was a Palestinian grandmother sitting in a wheelchair under olive trees.
She had come to meet her son, whom the family hadn't seen for years.
Unable to speak properly, she managed to say "Oh God", as her daughters cried and shook in agreement.
Similar scenes played out across the city.
Doua' Salame was waiting with her husband for her brother-in-law, Khairy, who had been jailed for 23 years.
"Thank God he was released. It was our dream to see him again," Doua' said.
"He can now see his son, his siblings. My husband is happy; you can see it in his eyes
"He still can't believe his brother is free. It feels like a dream."
As the men walked off the bus, their loved ones pulled them away for hugs and reunions, some overwhelmed by a day they never thought would come.
But the detainees were eager to speak out.
One prisoner said the men were mistreated in Israeli custody.
"If you want to see what happened, just look," he said, showing scars and bruising around his wrists from handcuffs.
"Israel was brutal until the very end."
'A mix of emotions'
Many of the prisoners released in the West Bank were convicted in Israeli military courts, which have been extensively criticised for having lower evidentiary standards and an extremely high conviction rate.
Most of them were serving lengthy sentences for supporting Palestinian armed groups or other security offences.
"We're happy, but it's a mix of emotions. We cry tears of joy, but we're also anxious," Doua' said.
Palestinians were being warned by official military channels up until the moment of release not to celebrate. The IDF even dropped flyers over the neighbourhoods of Ramallah.
"They told us not to celebrate — no media, no photos. We respected that. We will simply welcome him home," Doua' said.
Not all of the 250 prisoners have returned to the West Bank or East Jerusalem.
The freed prisoners convicted of murder and intentionally causing death have instead been deported to Egypt. It's unclear whether that's their final destination.
Alaa Alsharabati and his family went to Cairo to meet his dad, Ayman. He was imprisoned in 1998, when Alaa was six years old.
"It was the first time I heard my father's voice in two years, I swear my heart stopped from joy," he told the ABC about the call he received ahead of the release.
"It was mixed feelings, I couldn't believe myself … It's like he was in a grave and suddenly came out into life"
Thousands more prisoners were released into the destroyed Gaza Strip.
About 1,700 of the several thousand Palestinians that Israeli troops seized from Gaza during the two-year war and have held without charge were freed.
Safiyeh Qishta was waiting in Gaza to see her son, who she had not laid eyes on since the war began.
"We miss him, we want to hear his voice and see him," the 60-year-old said.
"He does not know that his father died, and he does not know that his sister and her children died, and that his brother also died during the war.
"He does not know about them. How will he come back? What will his feelings be like? I don't know."
Prisoners recount mistreatment in Israeli jails
Mixed with the joy of being free was sadness at the ordeals the prisoners had endured and the conditions of their loved ones.
Four of the men who spoke to the ABC alleged they were abused in detention.
"During interrogation by the army and intelligence services, conditions were brutal," Fadi el-Attar, 27, who was arrested in January of last year in Khan Younis, told the ABC.
"They broke young men, humiliated them — some even died under torture."
Mouin Wachh was arrested a year ago at the Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza with his brother and said the beating and "torture" was daily.
"They would tighten the handcuffs painfully and give us rotten food," the 35-year-old said.
"Every day we heard explosions; they used electric shocks and tasers.
"There were men like me with special needs. They hit one of my friends on the head, he lost his sight. He's blind now.
"He's very dear to me, we were very close."
The ABC sent Israel's military, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), questions about the released prisoners' allegations, but did not receive a response before deadline.
In response to previous allegations of prisoners being mistreated, the IDF said: "Any abuse of detainees, whether during their detention or interrogation, is contrary to the law and to IDF orders, and as such is strictly prohibited."
According to the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem, Palestinians have faced abuse in Israeli facilities, military and civilian, "as a matter of policy".
In a report last year, a United Nations commission found thousands of child and adult detainees in Israeli military camps and detention facilities, many of whom were arbitrarily detained, "have been subjected to widespread and systematic abuse, physical and psychological violence, and sexual and gender-based violence".
It said it amounted to the war crime and crime against humanity of torture, and the war crime of rape and other forms of sexual violence.
Attention turns to what happens next
In Israel, the release of many of these prisoners — those convicted of murder or causing intentional death — was controversial, with some families petitioning the courts to stop it.
As the prisoners were taken home, many Palestinians began thinking about what comes next.
They said the so-called peace plan from US President Donald Trump had little Palestinian involvement or leadership and no clear path to exercise Palestinians' internationally-recognised right to self-determination.
Former Palestinian Prisoners Minister Qadura Fares has warned the world must deal with the root causes of the conflict, or there will be more war.
"The conclusion after this ugly war should be to think deeply how to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on recognition of the Palestinian national rights," he said.
"If they do that today, I think that it will create some hope. If not, I think that we are waiting for the next round of bloodshed and confrontation."
