By Ali Sawafta and Nidal al-Mughrabi

RAMALLAH/CAIRO (Reuters) -Joyous Palestinians rushed to embrace prisoners freed under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement as they arrived by bus to the occupied West Bank and Gaza on Monday.

The prisoners were released after the Hamas militant group freed the last 20 living hostages taken during the October 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war in Gaza.

Under the deal, Israel is set to release 250 Palestinians convicted of murder and other serious crimes as well as 1,700 Palestinians detained in Gaza since the war began, 22 Palestinian minors, and the bodies of 360 militants.

Several thousand people gathered inside and around the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, awaiting the arrival of freed prisoners, with some waving

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