More than 100 Palestinians, including over two dozen children, were freed by Israel Thursday as part of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage exchange deal. Massive crowds gathered in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, to celebrate and welcome prisoners returning home.

Freed prisoner: “We are part of these people who tell the world we do not leave our prisoners inside the prison. Our message is national unity. This people deserves national unity.”

One of those released was the prominent Palestinian resistance leader Zakaria Zubeidi, who in 2021 notably broke out of an Israeli maximum-security prison through a tunnel with five others. They were recaptured days later. In 2006, Zubeidi co-founded the world-famous Freedom Theatre in the Jenin refugee camp, where Zubeidi was born.

Meanwhile, the U.N. is calling for 2,500 Palestinian children to be immediately evacuated from Gaza to receive urgent medical treatment, as they could die in the coming weeks.