Joyful scenes emerged across the Gaza Strip as buses carrying freed Palestinian prisoners entered the war-torn territory.

Hamas war ceasefire has provided some respite for Palestinians in Gaza after two years of killings and destruction.

CAIRO (AP) — Palestinians and aid workers are eagerly awaiting the reopening of the Rafah border crossing, which is the Gaza Strip’s lifeline for food and other aid and its only gateway to the outside world that wasn’t controlled by Israel before the war.

Shadi Abu Sido said his world shattered in Israeli detention when guards told him his wife and two children had been killed in the Gaza war. “I got hysterical,” the Gaza Palestinian photographer said.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched in response to Hamas’ attack into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused vast destruction, displacement and suffering in Gaza. The war also brought famine to parts of the territory.

Sources say the 28-year-old was killed by members of Israel-linked ‘militia’ fighting Hamas in the Sabra neighbourhood.

Thousands of Palestinians crowded the streets of Khan Younis in southern Gaza as International Committee of the Red Cross buses carrying the freed prisoners entered the city. Video footage showed armed men escorting the buses through the town, firing guns into the air.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have returned to Gaza City and the north of the Strip since Friday when a ceasefire between Israel Hamas came into effect.

The army said the coffin of a deceased hostage was on the way to Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip. The handover came after Hamas’ military wing said it would hand over the body of a hostage that was pulled out earlier in the day to the International Committee of the Red Cross.