By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta
CAIRO/Ramallah (Reuters) -Thousands of Palestinians chanted praise of Hamas on Saturday as they welcomed prisoners freed under a ceasefire deal between the militant group and Israel that saw four Israeli hostages also return home.
In Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, many carried freed detainees on their shoulders through jubilant crowds that had waited hours for the buses carrying the prisoners to arrive.
Some waved Palestinian flags or the flags of Palestinian factions including Hamas, the group ruling Gaza, its ally the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad, and the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Inside Gaza European Hospital in the south of the enclave, where 16 freed detainees arrived for medical checks, thousands flocked in to welcome them, chanting Allahu Akbar “God is greatest” and “Greeting to Qassam Brigades (Hamas armed wing).”
Ikhlas Balousha, a Gazan woman,…
