GAZA, June 2 (UPI) -- Israel freed 400 Palestinian prisoners Thursday in the second move of its kind since Mahmoud Abbas became Palestinian Authority president.
Palestinian sources said Israeli buses transported the freed prisoners, dropping them at security checkpoints outside several Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The majority of the prisoners were dropped outside the cities of Hebron, Tul Karem, Jenin and Ramallah in the West Bank and a few were taken to the Erez crossing north of Gaza.
The Palestinian authorities expressed reservations at the number and identity of the freed prisoners, saying they mainly consisted of inmates whose sentences were about to expire, but did not include prisoners serving long sentences or old and sick inmates as requested by the PA.
Israel earlier freed 500 prisoners a few months ago in line with agreements reached with the Palestinians at the summit of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt last February, during which an unofficial truce was declared.
