Israel and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbullah have staged a prisoner swap that has seen hundreds of jailed Palestinians freed in return for the return to Israel of a kidnapped Israeli businessman and the remains of three Israeli soldiers.
The bodies of the Israeli troops abducted at the border in 2000 were identified at an airbase in Cologne. The kidnapped Israeli businessman, Mr Elhanan Tannenbaum, whom Hizbullah said was a spy was also returned.
Shortly afterwards, Israel began releasing 400 Palestinian prisoners at five checkpoints into the West Bank and Gaza Strip. About 30 Arab prisoners from elsewhere were waiting at the German airport to fly home under the exchange.
"Thank God for our freedom. We hope that all prisoners will be released," said Mohammed Abu Hadas, who served 14 months for belonging to an Islamic group as he returned to Gaza. There are at least 7,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
"We are happy, but our present happiness will be completed when all prisoners in Israeli jails are released."
In the West Bank, motorists blared their horns and people on the street waved as buses carried the prisoners past Israeli checkpoints. The majority had been seized during the current, second Intifadah.
Most of the 60 Arabs flown from Israel were Lebanese and are expected to return home later in the day. A German convert to Islam jailed in 1997 as a Hizbullah agent was also freed. In addition, Israel sent the remains of some 60 guerrillas back to Lebanon.