By Xinhua
Jerusalem : Israel began releasing 29 Palestinian security prisoners to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Tuesday, one day after 57 Palestinian prisoners were released to the West Bank, a Prisons Authority spokesman said.
The prisoners left the Ketziot prison in southern Israel by taking a bus of Israeli Prisons Authority in the morning and were to arrive the Erez crossing with Gaza around noon, the spokesman told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Due to additional checking, one prisoner from the West Bank could not be released, the spokesman said, reducing the total number of released Palestinian prisoners to 86 instead of 87.
On September 23, the Israeli cabinet approved a release of nearly 90 Palestinian prisoners as a gesture of goodwill to Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas timed to coincide with Ramadan.
It is also the latest effort to bolster Abbas, who has been locked in a fierce power struggle with Hamas since the Islamic movement seized control of Gaza in mid June, and build trust between the sides ahead of a U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference.
Most of the released prisoners are from Abbas’ Fatah movement and several others are members of smaller Palestinian factions. None belongs to Hamas.
Israel holds around 11,000 Palestinian prisoners, and their release has long been a central Palestinian demand. Israel freed 255 prisoners in July.