JERUSALEM, Dec 8: Israel has decided to delay by one week the planned release of 230 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to western-backed President Mahmud Abbas, a senior official said on Monday.

The prisoners will now be freed on Dec 15, the official said, without giving a reason for the delay in the release, which was intended to coincide with Eidul Azha.

Government spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment.

Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Abbas at their last meeting on Nov 17 of his plan to release 250 prisoners, but a government committee on Sunday approved a list of only 230 names.

The committee decided on the list according to criteria which rule out freeing prisoners who belong to radical groups such as Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip, or those implicated in deadly attacks on Israelis.—AFP