Occupation names 26 Palestinian prisoners set for release

Israeli government announced late Sunday it will release 26 veteran Palestinian prisoners within 48 hours, within the first batch of the 104 veteran prisoners who will be released in several batches. Israeli government spokesman Ofir Gendelman said earlier on his Facebook page that the ministerial committee concerned with the file of prisoners set to be freed met again on Sunday evening for the second time within hours. The detailed list, published shortly after the announcement, includes the prisoners' names, crimes, date of arrest and names of their victims. Fourteen of the prisoners will be transferred to the Gaza Strip and the other 12 to the West Bank. "Eight of the prisoners on the list are set to be freed in the upcoming three years, two of them in the next six months," said a statement by the government. "The release of the prisoners will take place at least 48 hours after publication of the list." Ahrar Center for Studies of Prisoners said they "welcomed the release of any Palestinian prisoner from Israeli jails," but hoped the first to be set free would be the older ones. Director of the center Fouad Khuffash said in a statement that the list did not include any prisoner from the 1948 territories or Jerusalem. It included 15 prisoners from the Gaza Strip and 11 from the West Bank. For its part, the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies said that the list of prisoners set to be released on Tuesday from Israeli jails shows that the sentences of about one-third of them almost completed.