Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced Thursday that as part of ongoing negotiations with Lebanon, the Israeli leader has been working to locate and return the remains of leaders of Lebanon's Jewish community, individuals kidnapped and murdered by terror organizations in the mid-1980s.
According to the official statement, Netanyahu has been dealing with this issue for decades, dating back to his tenure as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations.
The prime minister revealed that extensive efforts to locate the remains have been conducted in recent months by both Lebanese and Israeli parties, including field operations on the ground.
In light of this significant cooperation, Israel decided to release five Lebanese citizens who had been detained in areas under IDF control in southern Lebanon. Authorities determined they were civilians with no membership in terror organizations, had not engaged in terrorist activity, and there was no justification for continuing to hold them in Israel.
