Two buses carrying released Palestinian prisoners reach Ramallah

Two buses carrying Palestinian prisoners released by Israel reached Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, their arrival cheered by hundreds of waiting Palestinians, an AFP correspondent reported.

Israel's Prison Service confirmed it had freed 110 prisoners on Thursday as part of the agreement with Hamas for a truce in Gaza, which came into effect on January 19.

The first to disembark from the bus at the Ramallah sports complex where the two vehicles arrived was former top militant leader Zakaria Zubeidi, 49, who stepped out flashing a victory sign.

He was immediately lifted up by the cheering crowd, the AFP correspondent reported.

Television images showed the two buses driving from Ofer prison, where the prisoners were released.

Zubeidi was seen in the broadcast in a grey prison outfit, repeatedly flashing the victory sign.

Palestinians were gathering at the sports centre in Ramallah after news broke that the prisoners had left Ofer.

As the buses were delayed, the crowd grew impatient and excited, chanting "Allahu Akbar".

Chants of "the people want the Al-Qassam Brigades" could also be heard as onlookers whistled and waved flags of Fatah and other Palestinian factions.

As the wait continued, people were seen climbing the high walls of the compound where the prisoners were to receive a short medical checkup, AFP's correspondent said.

Among the 110 released prisoners, 66 were freed in the occupied West Bank, nine were released in the Gaza Strip and 14 went to their homes in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, according to Amin Shuman, head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Committee.

Shuman told AFP that the remaining 21 prisoners were to be exiled out of Israel and the Palestinian territories.