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Huge crowds cheered and wept with joy in downtown Tel Aviv yesterday as Israel celebrated the release of 20 living hostages in a historic prisoner exchange deal. ‌

The now-iconic Hostage Square erupted into song as the names of those freed were read aloud over loudspeakers, while a giant screen broadcast live footage of the captives being handed over to Israeli troops, the Mirror reports from the scene. ‌

The emotional scenes came as hundreds of Palestinian prisoners were also released from Israeli jails and bussed back to Gaza and the West Bank — some exiled abroad — under a US-brokered ceasefire deal aimed at ending more than two years of bloodshed. ‌

Among those watching the scenes unfold was Tal, a young woman in Hostage Square, who said: “This is the most

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