00:00All right, well, we will be seeing how that meeting goes later on in the day.
00:04Thank you for that, Shirley.
00:05We can, though, cross live to our reporter, Claire Bacallan, who's in Ramallah in the West Bank.
00:11That's where there are Palestinian families.
00:14They're waiting to be reunited with some of those being released by Israel this Monday.
00:20Claire, tell us about the atmosphere, where you are.
00:25Well, I'm just outside the Ramallah Cultural Palace.
00:29This is the municipality building.
00:31Crowds are being gathering now.
00:33Family members of the Palestinian prisoners that we expect to arrive here very soon on buses.
00:39These prisoners are being released under this deal.
00:43Family members as well as members of the Palestinian Authority Security Forces and members of the Red President as well.
00:49Of course, lots of press, too.
00:51We are expecting, once these buses arrive and the soon-to-be former prisoners, they will go in to this municipality building and they will meet with their families there.
01:01We had just been speaking to a lady who told us that she was here to meet with her brother.
01:07He was put behind bars 17 years ago.
01:11She said she didn't expect to ever see him again, which suggests that he was given a life sentence.
01:16She said, of course, she was over the moon to be seeing him again shortly.
01:20She said it felt like having a fire inside.
01:23Now, to give you a recap, of the 250 or so Palestinian prisoners,
01:27who were regrouped off-air prison near Ramallah, many of them will be deported.
01:33We do not know exactly how many and where, to which countries they will be deported to,
01:38but others will be released here today in Ramallah and others in East Jerusalem as well.
01:43And the Israeli Security Services have contacted the families of those prisoners,
01:48telling them, warning them not to hold celebrations.
01:51They are not to hold celebrations that will be seen as disrespectful.
01:55They will not to hold celebrations or do anything which could be honouring Hamas.
02:01Meanwhile, Claire, some are also returning to Gaza.
02:05Those were people detained in Gaza since October 7.
02:09Obviously, they're returning to a very different Gaza, perhaps,
02:13than the one that they knew before they were detained.
02:16Certainly, we're looking at around 1,700 people who were detained in Gaza
02:22after the October 7th attacks.
02:24Now, they were regrouped at a prison in the Negev Desert.
02:27And we understand preparations have been happening all day at the Nasser Hospital to receive them.
02:33And some of their family members, of course, would be there to receive them.
02:37But there are families in Gaza who have found out, or have only just recently found out,
02:42that members of their family, their relatives, are on the list of prisoners to be released.
02:46And until then, they thought that they were missing.
02:51They did not know where they were.
02:53They had no news.
02:54They thought they may be dead.
02:56There's two years of war in Gaza now.
02:58But many of those families will be seeing their family members today,
03:03having thought that they may not ever see them again.
03:06And in Ramallah, where you are, I'm not sure how much you've spoken to people there,
03:12but is there a sense there that this ceasefire deal, this first phase,
03:17has given people there much hope?
03:20I mean, the deal, of course, is centred around the fighting in Gaza and a ceasefire there.
03:25But how are people in the West Bank viewing this?
03:29Well, certainly, people in the West Bank are very pleased that the bombardments have ceased,
03:36have stalled in Gaza for the moment.
03:39But it's important to remember that they have problems of their own.
03:42There is extremist violence coming from settler communities,
03:47which is making life difficult for many Palestinians.
03:50In the occupied West Bank.
03:52And they are, they'll be keeping an eye on the meeting that we'll be seeing,
03:57Shammar Sheikh, Egypt with the world leaders.
04:00The next steps, what happened next?
04:02Thank goodness that the bombing has ended for now in Gaza.
04:05But what's next?
04:06What's next for a Palestinian state, a future Palestinian state?
04:10And Claire, just if we can, going back to those 250 Palestinian prisoners being released,
04:16you mentioned a lot of them will be, you know, sent to other countries.
04:21But what has been the reaction among Israelis?
04:25I mean, you know, there's been a bit of outcry, hasn't there?
04:28There is certainly anxiety in some parts of the Israeli society.
04:36And with good reason, when you look at the crimes that these men were convicted of,
04:44some were awaiting trial and not yet been convicted,
04:46but most were convicted of often either organizing or even carrying out deadly attacks
04:52in which Israelis were killed.
04:54And you have to just look at the case of Lea Sinwar,
04:57who was seen as an organizer behind the preparation of the October 7th attack in Israel.
05:05And he was released in a prisoner exchange several years ago, 2011.
05:11He went back to Gaza after having spent quite some time in an Israeli prison.
05:16And he was able to organize and launch the October 7th attack.
05:20So certainly there is anxiety in Israeli society about that.
05:25But at the same time, the goal of having all of the remaining hostages home is a big win as well.
05:32And of course, you can see those images in Tel Aviv,
05:34where our correspondent is showing the joy on the streets of Tel Aviv
05:39as the hostages are finally on their way home.
05:43All right, Claire Bacallant, a day of mixed emotions then, it seems.
05:46Thank you very much for your reporting.
05:47That's France 24's reporter Claire Bacallant in Ramallah.
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