Palestinians say Israel releases mayor

Israel has released from jail a senior Hamas member who was elected mayor of a West Bank town while in Israeli custody, Palestinian security officials and Hamas have said.

Jamal al-Tawil, mayor of the town of Al-Bireh near the city of Ramallah, was released on Thursday after being held in an Israeli prison for almost six years, Hamas said on a Hamas-affiliated website.

The release was confirmed by Palestinian security officials in the occupied West Bank, but Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment due to the Jewish Sabbath.

Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June after routing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah forces, did not say why Tawil was freed.

Hamas described Tawil as a prominent official in the West Bank, where Fatah still holds sway.

- Reuters