Jerusalem - Israel plans to release some 250 Palestinian militants from Israeli prisons early next week, Israel Radio reported.

Israeli caretaker Premier Ehud Olmert promised the move in a meeting Monday afternoon at his Jerusalem residence with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel has carried several such releases over the past year in "goodwill measures" aimed at boosting public support for the moderate Palestinian president opposite his main rival, the radical Islamic Hamas movement ruling Gaza. All those released so far were members of Abbas' secular Fatah movement. No Hamas militants were among them. (dpa)