The Palestinians were released on Saturday afternoon in exchange for three Israeli civilian hostages whose gaunt appearances caused widespread condemnation.
Huge crowds in the West Bank and Gaza have welcomed home 183 former Palestinian prisoners released from jails by Israel.
They were freed as part of the fifth round of hostages-for-prisoners exchange to take place under the Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas which has largely held since 19 January.
Almost every Palestinian has a friend or family member who has been jailed by Israel at some point, for militant attacks or lesser offences like rock-throwing, protesting or membership of a banned political group.
Some are held for months or years without trial in what is known as administrative detention, which Israel says is needed to prevent attacks and avoid sharing sensitive intelligence.
Israel views the security prisoners as terrorists, while many Palestinians see them as freedom fighters resisting a decades-long military occupation.
“The dream of a prisoner is to meet his family, to eat a proper meal and feel full,” said former prisoner Ziad Younis after arriving in the West Bank.
But some prisoners arriving home to Gaza claimed they had been mistreated by Israeli prison guards.
“Their treatment is brutal, barbaric. Even when they released us, they beat us and put handcuffs on our hands, a torture that only God knows about. They left the dogs to attack us while our eyes were covered,” said Mohammad Sleim.
Seven Palestinians have reportedly been transferred to hospitals for immediate treatment but no details about their health conditions have been released.
18 of the former prisoners released on Saturday had been sentenced to life and 54 were serving long sentences for their involvement in deadly attacks against Israelis.
Some have been in jail for two decades.
In the West Bank town of Beitunia, whistling crowds greeted the released prisoners as heroes, waving flags and chanting in support of Hamas.
Some of the released men dropped to their knees as they stepped off the bus, weeping as they kissed the ground.
They were greeted by tearful relatives before traveling on to their homes throughout the West Bank.
They include Iyad Abu Shakhdam, 49, who has been locked up for nearly 21 years over his involvement in Hamas attacks in crowded civilian areas that killed dozens of Israelis during the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s.
That included a notorious 2004 suicide bus bombing in Israel’s southern city of Beersheba that killed 16 people, including a four-year-old child.
Anger in Israel
But those scenes of jubilation in the West Bank and Gaza stood in contrast to the shock and anger among Israelis after three of their citizens were released by Hamas.
Eli Sharabi, 52, Ohad Ben Ami, 56, and Or Levy, 34, were released earlier on Saturday afternoon and appeared to be in much poorer physical condition than any of the other 18 hostages released so far.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, demanded Secretary General Antonio Guterres “unequivocally condemn Hamas’s cruel and inhuman treatment of our hostages.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross said that it is concerned about the way Hamas frees hostages, criticising the heavily stage-managed events and forced statements that accompany their release.
And in a video statement, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Hamas as “monsters” and again vowed to destroy the militant group.
