PM’s office confirms Israel freeing 5 Lebanese civilian detainees as Beirut aids search for Jewish remains

As part of its negotiations with Lebanon, Israel agreed to release five Lebanese detainees in return for Beirut’s recent assistance in efforts to locate and return the remains of Lebanese Jewish community figures, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says in a statement, confirming reports on the matter.

“In recent months, numerous efforts have been undertaken to locate [the Jewish remains], by both Lebanon and Israel, including operations on the ground. In light of this significant activity, it was decided to release five Lebanese civilians who were detained in areas of southern Lebanon under IDF control,” the Prime Minister’s Office says in a Hebrew-language statement.

After questioning, “it became clear that [the Lebanese detainees] are civilians who are not members of a terrorist organization, were not involved in terrorism, and that there is no reason to continue holding them in Israel,” the PMO adds.

Netanyahu has “instructed officials to advance efforts to locate and return the bodies of the leaders of Lebanon’s Jewish community,” the PMO says, calling them “victims who were abducted and murdered in the mid-1980s by terrorist organizations.”

During that period, several members of Lebanon’s shrinking Jewish community, including senior communal figures, were abducted in Beirut by Shiite terrorist groups, and a number were later murdered.

Hebrew media reports earlier today said Israel is slated to return five Lebanese prisoners to Lebanon today as a “goodwill gesture.” The International Committee of the Red Cross later announced that it had already completed one handover.

An official told the Times of Israel last month that Israel and Lebanon were holding side negotiations on the identification and return of remains of Lebanese and Israeli Jews in exchange for Lebanese detainees.