JERUSALEM, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-six Palestinian prisoners left the Ayalon prison in central Israel on Tuesday evening and would be released overnight, the Israeli Prisons Service spokesperson confirmed to Xinhua.
The 26 prisoners, charged with perpetrating deadly terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens, were being sent to two checkpoints in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank, and would be released there.
The release is part of a gesture by the Israeli government, which approved on July 28 the release of 104 prisoners in several batches in the upcoming months, amid the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.
The list of the 26 prisoners was authorized by an Israeli ministerial panel, under the advisement of the Shin Bet, Israel's Security Agency.
Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians renewed in Washington on July 30, after a three-year halt, caused by Israel's settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The second round of talks is scheduled to take place in Jerusalem on Wednesday afternoon.
- 欧美文化:Xinhua Commentary: Exchange of violence only pushes Israel, Palestine farther from peace
- 欧美文化:208 dead, at least 1,500 injured in week of Israeli-Palestinian hostilities: UN
- 欧美文化:UN envoy calls for int'l efforts to end Israeli-Palestinian violence
- 欧美文化:Chinese envoy vows to push for UN Security Council action to defuse Israeli-Palestinian tensio
- 欧美文化:Biden reaches out to Israeli, Palestinian leaders amid escalating conflict