The wait went on into the night, in the bitter cold. Palestinians who had come to the hills overlooking Ofer Prison in the central West Bank, to welcome the prisoners being released in exchange for three Israeli hostages, arrived in the late afternoon of Sunday, January 19. They had hours to wait befor the departure of the buses transporting the detainees.

One 18-year-old girl, interviewed by news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), was looking forward to embracing her mother, arrested in January 2024 in their home in the northern West Bank. "She'll tell us about her time in prison, and we'll tell her about our life without her. I know in advance there'll be a lot of tears," she said, as she waited with her aunt, brother and sister.

Unwilling to give her name for fear of repercussions for her family, she said that her mother, a nurse, had been arrested for writing or liking messages on social media about Palestinian activism. "Ridiculous accusations," she said. When the Israeli authorities finally announced the release of the 90 prisoners, at around 1 am, shouts of joy erupted around the fires lit by their loved ones to keep warm while they waited.

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