JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Thursday that Israel had decided to release five Lebanese civilians detained in areas of southern Lebanon under Israeli military control, as part of ongoing negotiations with Lebanon.
The five Lebanese, described by Netanyahu's office as non-militants with no involvement in militant activity, were freed with "no reason for their continued detention in Israel."
Israel's state-owned Kan TV earlier reported that the releases had begun and were expected to be completed on Thursday.
Hezbollah member Malek Kamal Ghazi, detained by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon in October 2025, was among those designated for release and had already been handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) at the Naqoura crossing in southwestern Lebanon, according to Kan.
Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said that the Lebanese army later received Ghazi through the ICRC and took him to the army intelligence office in Tyre.
Netanyahu's office said the decision followed Lebanese and Israeli efforts to locate and return the remains of Jewish community leaders abducted and killed in Lebanon in the mid-1980s.
Meanwhile, an Israeli force infiltrated the town of Halta in the Hasbaya district Thursday morning, surrounded homes and prevented residents from leaving before detaining three residents and withdrawing toward the occupied Palestinian territories, the NNA reported.
The issue of Lebanese detainees held by Israel has become part of ongoing negotiations between the two countries. It was discussed during the seventh round of talks held in Rome in August, when both sides exchanged preliminary lists of detainees and missing persons.
Israel previously released five Lebanese detainees in March 2025, describing the move at the time as a goodwill gesture to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun as diplomatic efforts advanced.
Israeli troops remain deployed in parts of southern Lebanon, despite Lebanese demands for a full withdrawal under the ceasefire agreement. ■
