(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-03 14:58

JERUSALEM - Israel began to release more than 400 Palestinian prisoners early Monday as a gesture of goodwill to strengthen Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas after a US-sponsored conference last week on Palestinian statehood.

U.S. President George W. Bush (C) is joined by Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (L) and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (R) in the Rose Garden after meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, November 28, 2007. Israel began to release more than 400 Palestinian prisoners early Monday. [Agencies]

The first bus of prisoners left the Ketziot prison in southern Israel shortly after 0400 GMT.

Altogether 429 Palestinians will be released from an Israeli prison in its southern desert, the Israeli prisons service said earlier in a statement, adding that 408 Palestinians will be sent to the West Bank and 21 to Gaza.

Most of the prisoners belong to Abbas's Fatah faction.

"The prisoners have received medical checkups and met with representatives of the Red Cross," the Prisons Service said.

According to its common practice, the Israelis released Palestinian prisoners on the condition that they signed a paper declaring to stop "terror activities" against Israeli targets.

The release, a central Palestinian demand, is intended to strengthen Abbas in his struggle against the Islamic Hamas, which has taken complete control of the whole of Gaza.

Israel is holding about 9,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert launched formal peace talks in Annapolis, Maryland, over a "two-state solution" that could lead to an independent Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Abbas said earlier that the Palestinians' goal is to establish an independent state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Abbas expressed the hope that the two sides would conclude all final-status negotiations on the issues of Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, borders, water resources and security, and reach a solution that can be put into practice by the end of 2008.

Hamas refused to recognize the peace move in the United States and appealed to Abbas to join forces with Hamas and fight for a Palestinian state.

Rockets fired from Gaza land in southern Israeli towns almost daily, disrupting life there. Hamas said militants lobbed 34 mortar shells at Israel on Sunday. Late Sunday, four soldiers were slightly wounded by a shell, the military said.

Israeli ground forces hit back, targeting a mortar squad in Gaza City, the military said. Hamas and hospital officials said one militant was killed and six wounded.