Lebanon-Israel deal frees four prisoners as body search pact advances

Tyre,UPDATED: Sep 4, 2026 15:48 IST

Four Lebanese prisoners held in Israel were released and handed over to the Committee of the Red Cross on Friday under a deal between the two countries. In return, Lebanon agreed to help search for the bodies of Jewish Lebanese citizens who went missing during the country’s civil war decades ago.

The release is part of wider talks between Lebanon and Israel, with officials saying it followed US mediation and ongoing negotiations. A total of five Lebanese civilians are to be released under the current deal, while dozens of other Lebanese prisoners, including civilians and Hezbollah fighters captured in fighting in southern Lebanon, are still believed to be held in Israeli detention centres.

The first prisoner, identified as Malek Ghazi, was released on Thursday and handed over first to the ICRC and then to the Lebanese army. On Friday morning, Associated Press journalists at a checkpoint south of Tyre in southern Lebanon saw a convoy of ICRC vehicles heading towards the Naqoura border crossing.

Mahmoud Ayash, the brother of prisoner Hussein Ayash, said his brother had been detained for more than two months and had called from the border crossing in Naqoura to say 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. It also called for its teams to be given access to the remaining prisoners, saying 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 on Thursday that Israel had agreed to release five Lebanese civilians detained by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon after Lebanon provided help 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.

Several other issues remain unresolved between the two sides, which do not have diplomatic relations. Lebanon and Israel entered into rare direct negotiations after the latest war between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah broke out on March 2. Hezbollah fired missiles across the border two days after the US and Iran attacked Iran. Israel responded with aerial bombardment and a ground invasion of Lebanon, and it is now occupying a large swath of the south.

In June, Lebanon and Israel signed a US-mediated framework deal under which Israeli forces were to withdraw from areas they occupy in southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of Hezbollah, but there has been little progress on the ground. Hezbollah is not part of the Lebanon-Israel talks and has said it will not give up its weapons in any area north of the Litani River, while Israeli officials have said they will not withdraw unless Hezbollah is disarmed across the country.

Another round of talks is expected in Rome later this month, as the release of the Lebanese prisoners marks one limited step in broader negotiations that still leave key disputes unresolved.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends