Israel to free five Palestinian prisoners under deal with Hezbollah

Aug 3, 2008, 9:08 GMT

Jerusalem - Israel is to release five Palestinian prisoners as part of the final stage of its prisoners exchange deal with Lebanon's militant Hezbollah movement, Israeli media reported Sunday.

Israel's cabinet approved the move on Sunday. The five Palestinians were jailed for stone-throwing.

Their release comes as part of the Israel-Hezbollah deal that saw Hezbollah hand over the bodies of two Israeli soldiers in exchange for prominent Lebanese militant Samir Kuntar, four Hezbollah fighters and the remains of 199 Lebanese militants some three weeks ago.

Under the United Nations-backed, German-brokered deal between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel had agreed to free an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners one month after the initial exchange.

Hezbollah forces abducted Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev on July 12, 2006 in a cross-border raid that triggered 33 days of war with Israel. Hezollah gave no indication of their fate until the day of the swap.

In 1979, Israel sentenced Kuntar to multiple life terms in prison after he and his men were convicted of an attack in which a policeman and a civilian and his four-year-old daughter were killed.