(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Pursuant to the Government's 28 July 2013 decision to resume the diplomatic negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and authorize a ministerial team on the release of prisoners during the negotiations, the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners was approved this evening (Sunday, 27 October 2013). All of the prisoners slated for release perpetrated offenses before the Oslo accords and served prison sentences of 19-28 years. Twenty-one of them are from Judea and Samaria and five are from the Gaza Strip.

A list of the prisoners will be issued later this evening on the Israel Prison Service website after those bereaved families that asked to be notified in advance will have been informed. The releases will be carried out at least 48 hours after the list is published.

It should be emphasized that any prisoner who resumes hostile activity will be returned to serve the remainder of his sentence.