Israel releases Lebanese civilian, says five prisoners will be freed

Israel has released one Lebanese civilian detainee and has pledged to free five prisoners, the first such handover since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war six months ago.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on Thursday that Israel agreed to release the Lebanese civilians held by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon after Beirut helped search for the bodies of Lebanese Jewish leaders who were “abducted and murdered by terrorist organisations” in the 1980s.

Netanyahu’s statement added that after being interrogated, the five detainees were found not to be “members of a terrorist organisation” or “involved in terrorism”.

The first released prisoner, identified as Malek Ghazi, was handed over to the Lebanese army via the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a Lebanese security official said.

Ghazi was handed over to the ICRC at the border crossing in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Naqoura. He was then transferred to a Lebanese army intelligence office in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

Ghazi’s family, hailing from the southeastern town of Ain Ata near the southern border village of Shebaa, said last October that they had lost contact with him after he went out to exercise.

He is the first citizen held by Israel to be released since US-brokered negotiations between Beirut and Tel Aviv began in April .

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam hailed the release in a statement, thanking “the American administration … for the efforts exerted in this regard”.