Israel frees 4 more Lebanese prisoners in a deal tied to missing Jews from Lebanon’s civil war

TYRE, Lebanon (AP) — Four prisoners from Lebanon held in Israel were released and handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross Friday as part of a deal between the two countries. In return, Lebanon agreed to search for the bodies of Jewish Lebanese citizens who went missing during the country's civil war decades ago.

Dozens of Lebanese prisoners are believed to be held in Israeli detention centers, including civilians as well as Hezbollah militants captured during fighting in southern Lebanon . A total of five detainees are being released under the current deal, all civilians.

The first Lebanese prisoner, identified as Malek Ghazi, was released to the International Committee of the Red Cross and then to the Lebanese army on Thursday.

Associated Press journalists waiting at a checkpoint south of the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon saw a convoy of ICRC vehicles heading toward the Naqoura border crossing Friday morning.

Mahmoud Ayash, the brother of prisoner Hussein Ayash, who was waiting there, said his brother had been detained for more than two months and had called from the border crossing in Naqoura to say that he had been released and was with the ICRC.

“I hope all our prisoners in Israeli prisons will be released and for all Lebanese citizens to be liberated,” he said.

The ICRC said in a statement that the remaining prisoners had been transferred to it on Friday. The organization called for its teams to be granted access to the remaining prisoners, noting that it has not had access to detainees held in Israel since October 2023.

“Many families in Lebanon are still waiting for answers about the fate of loved ones who may be detained, deceased or otherwise unaccounted for," it said.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Thursday that Israel agreed to release five Lebanese civilians detained by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon after Lebanon provided assistance in searching for the bodies of Lebanese Jewish leaders who were “abducted and murdered by terrorist organizations” in the 1980s, during Lebanon’s civil war.

Officials said the prisoner release came as a result of U.S. mediation and as a result of ongoing negotiations between Israel and Lebanon.

Other thorny issues remain to be resolved. Lebanon and Israel, which do not have diplomatic relations, entered into rare direct negotiations after the outbreak of the latest war between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on March 2.

Hezbollah fired missiles over the border, two days after the U.S. and Iran attacked Iran. Israel launched aerial bombardment and a ground invasion of Lebanon and is now occupying a large swath of the south.

Lebanon and Israel in June signed a U.S.-mediated framework deal under which Israeli forces were to withdraw from areas they are occupying in southern Lebanon in exchange for disarmament of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, but little progress has been made in implementation on the ground.

Hezbollah is not a party to the Lebanon-Israel talks and has said it will not give up its weapons in any area north of southern Lebanon’s Litani River. Israeli officials, meanwhile, have said they will not withdraw unless Hezbollah is disarmed throughout the country.

Another round of talks is expected to take place in Rome later this month.