GAZA, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Twenty nine Palestinian prisoners among 400 freed by Israel under a swap deal with Hezbollah arrived in the West Bank Thursday to a warm welcome.
The prisoners were transported in buses to the Erez crossing north of the Gaza Strip where their families and a crowd of well-wishers welcomed them with ululation and cheers, brandishing Palestinian and Hezbollah flags.
Ezzedine Salameh Abu Wadi, one of the freed prisoners, said he was sentenced to three years in prison of which he served only two years.
"I want to thank God, all the people who worked on my release, especially Nasrallah," he said in reference to Hezbollah's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.
Abu Wadi said he wished the deal included prisoners sentenced for life in prison who have been detained for years in Israeli jails under poor conditions.
More of the liberated Palestinian prisoners are expected to arrive gradually in Gaza and the West Bank later today.
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