Israel said on Thursday it had decided to release five Lebanese civilians who it had seized from southern Lebanon, where it has occupied areas near the border.
The announcement came as a Lebanese military source said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had returned to Lebanon a man seized by Israel amid its wars with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
"It was decided to release five Lebanese civilians who were arrested in areas under IDF control in southern Lebanon," the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
"After their interrogation was completed, it became clear that they are civilians who are not members of any terrorist organisation, have not engaged in terrorism, and there is no reason to continue holding them in Israel," it added.
In its last round of negotiations with Israel in August, Lebanon demanded the release of a first batch of people seized from Lebanese territory since the start of the 2024 war between Israel and Hezbollah, a Lebanese official told AFP at the time.
Lebanese authorities have not officially announced the number of citizens held by Israel during that war and a subsequent 2026 war between the two sides, but a list of more than 30 people has been compiled by their families and a committee following up on their cases.
Netanyahu's office said the decision to release the five detainees followed efforts by Israel and Lebanon to locate and return the bodies of leaders of Lebanon's Jewish community abducted and killed in the 1980s.
According to Israeli media, several members of Lebanon's Jewish community were seized and killed by Shia militants during those years.
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