Ramallah - An Israeli military court decided Wednesday to release the speaker of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council, who has been held in an Israeli jail for 34 months.

Hazem Dweik, Aziz Dweik's son, confirmed his father would be freed once the family paid his 5,000 shekel (1,250 dollars) bail. The release was expected within hours, he said.

Dweik was detained in a wave of arrests of Hamas legislators in August 2006, after Hamas and two other armed groups snatched an Israeli soldier during a cross-border raid launched from the Gaza Strip.(dpa)