Three Israeli hostages and 183 Palestinian prisoners were released in the latest exchange on Saturday as part of a ceasefire deal struck between Israel and Hamas last month.
Yarden Bibas, 34, Ofer Kalderon, 53, and Keith Siegel, 65, were handed over to the Red Cross.
Palestinian prisoners were taken in buses to Gaza and the West Bank, many of them coming from the nearby Ofer prison.
The tone of the exchange sat in stark contrast to Thursday’s chaotic handover, during which surging crowds pressed in on hostages, eliciting concern for their safety and prompting Israel to delay that day’s release of Palestinian prisoners.
Saturday’s release was more orderly but retained the presentational elements that sought to project that Hamas remains the governing force in Gaza.
Lines of armed fighters kept crowds at bay, while the men who were released were flanked by more armed and masked fighters. A banner behind them bore the images of killed Hamas leaders.
Officials from the Red Cross signed certificates of release for Kalderon and Bibas, who were then made to hold them as they waved to the crowd in Khan Younis.
As Siegel, a US-Israeli dual national, appeared on stage in Gaza City, a crowd gathered in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv erupted into cheers.
The family of French-Israeli Kalderon said in a statement that they were “overwhelmed with joy, relief, and emotion after 484 long and difficult days of unbearable waiting”.
They added that he “endured months in a nightmare”, holding onto the “hope of embracing his children again”.
Hamas claimed that they had been killed by an Israeli air strike early on in the ensuing war – but were named in a list of hostages it said in January it was willing to free.
Holding up an image of Kfir, who was just nine months old when he was taken, Andrea Wittenberg remarked: “They are children. They should be at home. It is impossible for them to be in Gaza.”
She added: “I don’t want to give up.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog described Mr Bibas’s return as “simply heartbreaking”, saying his country remained “deeply concerned” about their fate. “As an entire nation we hold them in our hearts,” he wrote.
Herzog added that each released hostage “deserves the time to rehabilitate and rebuild their lives, and every one of the hostages deserves to come home soon”.
Saturday’s hostage release was more organised than the one on Thursday when two Israelis and five Thai nationals were led through cheering crowds, who at times had to be pushed out of the way.
Described as “shocking scenes” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel demanded – and received assurances – that they would not be repeated.
International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric had urged that security around the handovers be improved and they “take place in a safe and dignified manner”.
A ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas began on 19 January, with the first stage seeing 33 hostages and 1,900 prisoners released, as well as hundreds of lorries carrying humanitarian aid being allowed into Gaza each day.
The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt – a key humanitarian corridor – was also reopened on Saturday, after eight months of being closed.
The Gaza health ministry said 50 patients had left via the crossing to access medical care in Egypt.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have also been allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza this week.
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Gaza ceasefire: Eight hostages set for release by Hamas already dead, Israel claims
