People in the West Bank celebrate the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Sunday night. (ABC News: Mitch Woolnough)
The anxiety is palpable in the Hijaz house.
A father chain-smokes cigarettes, while a mother and two aunties field constant phonecalls, and all eyes remain glued to rolling news coverage blaring on the living room TV.
They're all desperate for an update on their daughter and sister.
Hadeel Hijaz was detained in 2024, but was never charged with anything. (ABC News: Mitch Woolnough)
Hadeel Hijaz, a 33-year-old activist, was arrested last June on her way home to the West Bank from Malaysia and has been held in an Israeli prison ever since, with no charges and no answers.
She was one of the many Palestinian prisoners held under what is known as "administrative detention" where people are arrested on the grounds they plan to break the law in the future.
Ms Hijaz was released as part of the ceasefire deal brokered between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect on Sunday and is designed to end the 15-month war in Gaza.
Hadeel Hijaz celebrates after her release early on Monday morning. (Supplied)
Although her name was on a list of the first prisoners who would be freed, her parents said they remained sceptical.
Ms Hijaz's father Mohammad said that because prisoners like his daughter were often detained based on classified evidence that's not even revealed to them, it's near impossible to disprove the allegations.
"In the whole world, only Israel has the administrative detention without any accusation or evidence," he told the ABC.Â
"It is unique in the world."
Intesar Hijaz waits to hear news about her daughter on Sunday. (ABC News: Mitch Woolnough)
With no information about or communication with her daughter, Ms Hijaz's mother Intesar said the past seven months had been torture.
"It is difficult to be missing someone from your house. It leaves an emptiness," she said.
"I think of her all the time. How is she sleeping? What is she doing? What are they doing to her? Â
"You feel you are not living a normal life. And you feel that your child is in pain and in despair."
Mohammad Hijaz is critical of Israel's record of detaining Palestinians. (ABC News: Mitch Woolnough)
In the early hours of Monday morning, local time, Ms Hijaz stepped out of a prison bus and into the arms of her relatives.
For her family, it was time for celebration but for the freed prisoner, it was a bittersweet moment.
"It's a mixed feeling, getting out of an isolated Zionist prison, to see the world and to see what's going on," she told the ABC.
"Leaving people behind us in the prisons leaves us in these mixed feelings as well."
Mohammad Hijaz has been waiting for his daughter to return for months. (ABC News: Mitch Woolnough)
She claimed she was subjected to abuse while behind bars and then threatened by prison guards when they finally released her.
"They threatened us about speaking or saying anything about our prison conditions or about celebrating our freedom or talking to the media," she said.
But she is determined to speak out.
"The international community needs to step up and defend the Palestinian prisoners and defend their rights," she said.
A man prepares to greet Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank on Friday night. (ABC News: Mitch Woolnough)
'The issue is bigger than Hadeel'
While many of the almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners who will be released in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages are in administrative detention like Ms Hijaz, there are also serious criminals among them.
They include members of militant groups like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, some of whom are serving life sentences for crimes including murder, which made these prisoner releases such a sticking point in the ceasefire negotiations.
One of the most prominent prisoners is Nael Barghouti, who has spent more time incarcerated by Israel than any other Palestinian.
He was first jailed in 1978 for taking part in an attack that killed an Israeli soldier in Jerusalem and spent 33 years in jail, before his release as part of a prisoner-hostage exchange in 2011. Israel rearrested him in 2014 and he's been in prison ever since.
Nael Barghouti celebrates in Ramallah after his release from prison in 2011. (AP: Majdi Mohammed)
His wife Eman Nafe also spent 10 years behind bars accused of attempting to plan a suicide operation in Jaffa.
She joined the celebrations in Ramallah to welcome home the first prisoners but told the ABC that even though she was excited for her husband to be released under the deal, she was unlikely to see him, as he was expected to be deported immediately.
"Today, we are happy because people are going to be released, we're happy because the war will stop on Gaza but for Nael Barghouti, he's not supposed to be deported," she said.
"I hope that he will come home to his land. I planted trees and he planted trees and we have oranges and I want him to eat something from his own land so I hope … something will change so he will not be deported.
"I hope he will be free. He was 19 when he was arrested in 1978, now he's 67, 68 next October. God will help us."
Eman Nafe's husband has spent most of his life in an Israeli prison. (ABC News: Mitch Woolnough)
One name not on the list of prisoners for release is Marwan Barghouti, a leader in both intifadas who's been charged with orchestrating gun ambushes and suicide bombings.
His wife Fadia also joined the celebrations in the West Bank, where supporters chanted her husband's name, some waving Hamas flags.
Even though he was unlikely to be released any time soon, many of Fadia's friends who she was jailed with until last May, will be.
"We almost lost hope of welcoming our friends and our beloved and we are all happy first because of the ceasefire and we hope, inshallah, the war will end," she told the ABC.
"It's been eight months since I saw them and I heard they're suffering very bad conditions so I'm so happy they'll be free."
Street parties broke out across the West Bank on Sunday night as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas held. (ABC News: Mitch Woolnough)
Israel has repeatedly denied mistreating Palestinian prisoners but Fadia Barghouti claims she too suffered in an Israeli jail.
"All our human rights were taken from us, we were treated badly," she said.
"We were beaten, we were strip-searched, we were humiliated. We had the minimum of everything, food, healthcare, clothes."
According to data from the Jerusalem-based human rights organisation B'Tselem, there were 10,966 Palestinians in Israeli jails in June 2024.
Palestinian prisoners celebrate in Betunia after their release on Sunday. (AP: Leo Correa)
The prisoner releases will continue next weekend, when another four Israeli hostages are set to be released by Hamas.
While Ms Hijaz's father Mohammad welcomes his daughter's homecoming, his thoughts are now with the families of other Palestinians still behind bars.
"Hadeel's case is one of the thousands of cases of Palestinians in prison," he said.
"What are six months or even a year compared with detainees who serve life sentences?
"The issue is bigger than Hadeel's ordeal."
