A Red Cross convoy passes a Lebanese checkpoint near the border with Israel in the southern village of Mansouri, Lebanon, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Mohammed Zaatari) CORRECTION: A Red Cross convoy, instead of U.N. peacekeeper convoy<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-09-04T08:59:50Z<\/p>\n
TYRE, Lebanon (AP) \u2014 Four prisoners from Lebanon held in Israel were released and handed over to Lebanese authorities via the International Committee of the Red Cross Friday as part of a deal between the two countries. In return, Lebanon agreed to search for the bodies of Jewish Lebanese citizens who went missing during the country\u2019s civil war decades ago.<\/p>\n
Dozens of Lebanese prisoners are believed to be held in Israeli detention centers, including civilians as well as Hezbollah militants captured during fighting in southern Lebanon<\/a><\/span>. A total of five detainees were released under the current deal, all civilians.<\/p>\n The first Lebanese prisoner, identified as Malek Ghazi, was released to the International Committee of the Red Cross and then to the Lebanese army on Thursday.<\/p>\n Associated Press journalists waiting at a checkpoint south of the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon saw a convoy of ICRC vehicles heading toward the Naqoura border crossing Friday morning and later return. The convoy then entered a Lebanese army barracks in Tyre.<\/p>\n Mahmoud Ayash, the brother of prisoner Hussein Ayash from the village of Harouf, who was waiting there, said his brother had been detained for about three months and had called from the border crossing in Naqoura to say that he had been released and was with the ICRC.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope all our prisoners in Israeli prisons will be released and for all Lebanese citizens to be liberated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ahmed Atwe, also waiting at the checkpoint, said his relative, Mohammed Juheir, was a fisherman from the border town of Naqoura who was captured at sea by Israeli forces a year ago, when a ceasefire agreement was in place.<\/p>\n