Israel Releases Four More Lebanese Prisoners in Red Cross-Brokered Handover
Four Lebanese citizens detained in Israel were released Friday through the International Committee of the Red Cross, a day after a fifth detainee was handed over in the same internationally arranged process.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed the releases and credited American diplomacy, saying he was grateful for “all the efforts exerted, particularly by the United States under the leadership of President Donald Trump and by international bodies, especially the ICRC.”
Reporters with The Associated Press and Anadolu saw an ICRC convoy head toward the Naqoura border crossing on Friday morning and later return and enter a Lebanese army barracks in Tyre with the released men. The ICRC confirmed that it had “facilitated the transfer to Lebanon of five individuals released from Israeli detention” at the request of the relevant parties.
The release followed a pledge by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to free five Lebanese prisoners. The first to be freed, Malek Ghazi, crossed over the previous day. Among those released Friday, The Associated Press identified Hussein Ayash, from the village of Harouf, and Mohammed Juheir, a fisherman from Naqoura.
The two-day handover is the first of its kind since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war six months ago, and it is expected to serve as a confidence-building measure as Washington presses both governments to stick with diplomacy.
Dozens of Lebanese citizens are believed to remain in Israeli detention centers, including civilians and Hezbollah members captured during the fighting in southern Lebanon. The Red Cross, which has not been granted access to detainees held in Israel since October 2023, repeated its request for such access. “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 transfers come against the backdrop of a broader regional escalation. Cross-border exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah began after Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in October 2023, flared for more than a year, and escalated into a full-blown war in 2024. Two years later, Lebanon was pulled deeper into the conflict when the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran. Hezbollah, an Iranian ally, fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion have since killed at least 4,300 people in Lebanon.
Lebanon entered direct talks with Israel in April under a U.S.-brokered framework, and Aoun’s government has pledged to implement the terms. Aoun described Friday’s releases as a step toward “the full restoration of Lebanese sovereignty, without giving up an inch of our land or a single one of our people.”
Still, the limited humanitarian exchange underscores how far the broader negotiations have to go. Issues such as border demarcation, the fate of remaining detainees and the future of Hezbollah’s armed presence remain unresolved, and many families across Lebanon are still waiting for clarity about missing relatives.