Lebanon releases Israeli prisoner without any concessions

According to a statement issued by Gal Hirsch, coordinator for prisoners and missing persons in the Israeli cabinet, Saleh Abu Hussein, an Arab resident of the 1948-occupied territories who was arrested in Lebanon in July 2024, was released by Lebanese authorities and handed over to Israel via the Ras al-Naqoura crossing, with the assistance of the Red Cross.

Hirsch added that the Israeli military transferred the freed detainee to a hospital for necessary medical examinations.

Israeli media emphasized that no Lebanese prisoners were released in exchange for him.

Meanwhile, some Lebanese media reported that the Israeli settler had been arrested in July of last year by Lebanese military intelligence, which posed as a Lebanese citizen.

Investigations at the time revealed that the detainee was not a civilian but was conducting a military intelligence and espionage mission for the Mistaravim unit—a secret Israeli army unit whose operatives carry out sensitive operations disguised as Arabs. The rest of the team reportedly escaped from Lebanon during his capture.

In this context, Lebanese journalist Ahmad Yassin sarcastically wrote that after a year, the government of Nawaf Salam managed to assert its dominance over the Palestinian Authority structures, releasing the Israeli settler without freeing any non-military Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails.