国际英语新闻:26 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prison

JERUSALEM, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-six Palestinian prisoners left the Ayalon prison in central Israel on Tuesday evening and would be released overnight, the Israeli Prisons Service spokesperson confirmed to Xinhua.

The 26 prisoners, charged with perpetrating deadly terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens, were being sent to two checkpoints in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank, and would be released there.

The release is part of a gesture by the Israeli government, which approved on July 28 the release of 104 prisoners in several batches in the upcoming months, amid the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.

The list of the 26 prisoners was authorized by an Israeli ministerial panel, under the advisement of the Shin Bet, Israel's Security Agency.

Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians renewed in Washington on July 30, after a three-year halt, caused by Israel's settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The second round of talks is scheduled to take place in Jerusalem on Wednesday afternoon.