Israel released five Lebanese civilian detainees in a goodwill gesture coordinated with the United States on Thursday, following progress in US-brokered negotiations between Beirut and Tel Aviv aimed at stabilizing their shared northern border and locating missing persons.
Goodwill Handover at the Naqoura Crossing
The first released prisoner, identified as Malek Ghazi, crossed back into Lebanon via the southern coastal town of Naqoura, where he was transferred to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a Lebanese security official said. State media reported that Ghazi was subsequently moved to a Lebanese army intelligence office in Tyre, Lebanon.
Ghazi’s family, hailing from the southeastern town of Ain Ata north of Mount Hermon, lost contact with him in October 2025 when he was about 20 years old after he went out for a training session near the town. His motorcycle was discovered abandoned at the time, though he remained missing until his detention was acknowledged during diplomatic talks. Arab media also identified one of the prisoners as Kamel Ghazi, with a Saudi report noting he was expected to be transferred through the Naqoura crossing.
Diplomatic Negotiations and the Search for Missing Remains
The Prime Minister’s Office in Israel announced that the five detainees were freed after interrogations confirmed they were civilians who were not members of a terrorist organization and were not involved in terrorism. The PMO stated that the release was made in order to further the return of Lebanese Jewish community heads’ remains, after Beirut helped search for the bodies of Lebanese Jewish leaders who were abducted and murdered by terrorist organizations in the 1980s.
According to a Hezbollah-linked Lebanese newspaper, Al-Akhbar, a civilian prisoner exchange deal was negotiated between Israel and Lebanon, with Israeli representatives specifically referring to a significant number of remains buried in Jewish cemeteries in Beirut and Sidon. The issue arose during discussions over prisoners and detainees held by Israel who were classified as civilians whose affiliation with Hezbollah was not known, but who nevertheless posed a threat to IDF troops and were therefore detained. The issue of the detainees was formally included in the seventh round of talks between Israel and Lebanon, held in Rome in August under US mediation, during which the sides exchanged preliminary lists of detainees and missing persons.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on Thursday that Israel agreed to release the Lebanese civilians held by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon after Beirut helped search for the bodies. A year ago, Israel also released five Lebanese detainees who were captured during fighting as part of negotiations with Lebanon. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had said on August 7 that positive progress had been made on the issue.
Political Receptions and International Coordination
The prisoner release was described by an official as an Israeli gesture to the Lebanese government. The issue was discussed during a meeting in Jerusalem between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. Channel 12 News reported that the expected release of the five prisoners to Lebanon was part of a goodwill gesture coordinated with the United States and amid ongoing negotiations between the two countries.
Similar goodwill steps have occurred previously. In March 2025, Israel released five Lebanese citizens who had been held in Israel in a move described by the Prime Minister’s Office as a gesture to the Lebanese President, which was coordinated with the United States and in parallel to progress in talks on border issues. Those detainees had been captured by the Israeli military during the recent war and were received by the Red Cross on Tuesday evening before being transported to the Lebanese Italian Hospital in Tyre. Netanyahu’s announcement then followed a four-way meeting in Naqoura involving representatives from the Israeli military, the US, France, and Lebanon, which resulted in an agreement to form three joint working groups focused on issues including Israeli withdrawal from five points in southern Lebanon, revisiting the pre-war land border, and the release of detainees held in Israel.
Ongoing Security Tensions in Southern Lebanon
Despite the prisoner release, broader military friction persists along the frontier. The prisoner handover comes despite Israeli dissatisfaction with a pilot arrangement currently underway in southern Lebanon, with the IDF arguing that the Lebanese army is not making sufficient progress. The Israeli Prime Minister communicated the release of the five Lebanese citizens held in southern Lebanon, an area currently under the control of the Israeli Army, presenting the movement as a gesture of goodwill within the framework of open discussions between both countries to end hostilities and address points including the disarmament of the Hezbollah militia party.
