Hezbollah hands over Israeli remains

JERUSALEM —  Israel handed over a convicted Hezbollah spy to Lebanon on Sunday and in a surprise move the Islamic guerrilla group turned over what it said were remains of Israeli troops killed in a 2006 war.

The Hezbollah gesture, along with recent comments by its leader, signaled that a larger prisoner exchange could be in the works.

Israel said that Sunday’s exchanges were unrelated to a deal that would include Israel releasing the longest-serving Lebanese prisoner and Hezbollah setting free two soldiers captured in a 2006 raid that sparked the monthlong war.

But a senior Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said a deal was in the making, though there was no timetable.

Israeli authorities released Nasim Nisr, an Israeli of Lebanese descent, after he completed a six-year sentence.

Hezbollah official Wafik Safa told the group’s Al Manar TV station that Hezbollah handed over a brown box containing what it said were the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in the war.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has boasted of possessing limbs of Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli army said the remains would undergo forensic examination.

A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Jerusalem called Hezbollah’s move a “complete surprise,” and Israel’s military said the move was not coordinated.

Israel said Sunday that it would try to help Palestinian students in the Gaza Strip achieve their aim of studying overseas by letting them leave the blockaded territory, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

The move came in response to a request Friday by the U.S. that the Jewish state allow seven students set to receive Fulbright fellowships to travel to Jerusalem for a visa interview.

Israel tightened its cordon around Gaza after Hamas took over the coastal strip last June.