Israel to free 550 prisoners on Sunday

Israel is to fulfil its Egyptian pledge and release 550 Palestinian security prisoners on Sunday in the second stage of the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap, though none of those released will be Hamas-affiliated, The Jerusalem Post quoted a government official as saying. The official spoke just hours before the Justice Ministry published a list of the prisoners'' names on the Prisons Service website, giving 48 hours for the release to be appealed to the Supreme Court. Under the Egyptian-mediated prisoner swap in October that led to Shalit;'s release, Israel released 477 Palestinian prisoners, whose names Israel and Hamas agreed upon in the first stage of the deal. Another 550 prisoners, completely of Israel’s choosing, were to be released in the second stage by December 18 .