Israel agrees to repatriate freed Palestinian prisoners to West Bank

Israel will allow 18 Palestinians to return to their homes in the West Bank after they have been exiled for one year in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian official said Wednesday. The 18 were released from Israeli detention together with hundreds of others as part of a prisoner-swap deal between Israel and Islamic Hamas movement, which controls Gaza. Under the deal, which took place in October 2011, Israel recovered its soldier Gilad Shalit who was abducted by Hamas in 2007. The deported would start returning home in the coming days, probably Saturday, said Ziad Abu Ein, deputy minister of prisoners affairs of the Palestinian National Authority. He also noted that Egypt, which brokered the original deal, has exerted intensive efforts in recent days to arrange for the return of the prisoners.