Israel asks to postpone release of 4 prisoners until Friday: Lebanese source

Israel has asked to postpone until Friday the handover of four additional prisoners to Lebanon, including two Syrians after Beirut earlier received one prisoner through the Red Cross, a Lebanese official source told Anadolu on Thursday.

The official source said the Red Cross was scheduled to receive four additional prisoners from Israel Thursday evening before handing them over to the Lebanese army.

“However, Tel Aviv requested that the handover be postponed until (tomorrow) Friday,” the source said.

The four prisoners, including two Syrians, are expected to be handed over by Israel to the Red Cross at the Naqoura crossing at 11 a.m. Friday (9 a.m. GMT), before being transferred to the Lebanese army for medical examinations and then handed over to their families, the source said.

The source added that the names of the four prisoners due to be released Friday were not included on the list previously distributed by the prisoners’ affairs authority.

Earlier, the source said that the four were expected to be handed over on Thursday evening.

In an earlier development, a source, who requested anonymity, said the Lebanese side received one prisoner through the Red Cross but did not provide further details.

The released is called Malik Kamal Ghazi, 21, who stayed 11 months in custody. He was from the southern Lebanese town of Ain Ata in Rashaya district and disappeared in October 2025 while riding his motorcycle in a mountainous area near the border. It was later confirmed that he had been detained by Israeli forces.

Israel's public broadcaster KAN identified the released prisoner as Malik Kamal Ghazi, saying he was affiliated with the Lebanese group Hezbollah and had been detained by Israeli forces in Ain Ata, southern Lebanon, in October 2025.

KAN said Ghazi was handed over to the Red Cross at the Naqoura crossing and later transferred to the Lebanese army, which took him for medical examinations.

Israeli Channel 12 also reported that Israel was expected to release five prisoners and hand them over to Lebanon on Thursday.

The broadcaster said the planned releases were being coordinated with the US as part of ongoing talks with Beirut.

It added that the issue of prisoners and missing persons was a key part of talks between the two sides and that preliminary lists were exchanged during the latest round of negotiations in Rome.

In a related development, Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister had ordered efforts to “accelerate” the search for and return of the remains of Jewish community leaders in Lebanon, saying operations had been carried out in Lebanon and Israel in recent months without disclosing their results.

The office said “several operations” had been conducted to locate the remains, including field operations, before the decision was made to release the five detainees, whom it said had been arrested in areas controlled by the Israeli army in southern Lebanon.

It claimed that the decision came after it became clear the five were not members of any “terrorist organization.”

In a separate statement, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the return of the Lebanese detainee, saying the return of any freed Lebanese citizen to the country “constitutes an important step” toward addressing the issue of prisoners and missing persons.

“We will continue working until all our prisoners are released, the fate of the missing is revealed and Israel fully withdraws from Lebanese territory,” Salam said.

“No matter how difficult the negotiating path may seem,” Lebanon would continue mobilizing efforts to protect its rights and the interests of its citizens, he added.

The release coincided with continued Israeli incursions in southern Lebanon, where an Israeli force abducted three Lebanese citizens from the town of Halta in Hasbaya district earlier Thursday, according to a local source who spoke to Anadolu.

There is no official figure for the number of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel, but the Lebanese Association for Prisoners and Freed Prisoners published a list on Aug. 26 naming 36 Lebanese detainees, including civilians, farmers, fishermen, volunteers, and fighters.