Jerusalem  - Israel's supreme court authorized the government to go ahead with its planned release of 227 Palestinian militants from Israeli prisons Monday, Israel Radio reported.

Israeli victims of shooting attacks and suicide bombings by Palestinian militants, as well as a settlement leader, had filed separate petitions against the release, prompting the court to issue a temporary injunction against the move.

The injunction was lifted after the government submitted its reply to the petitions.

The Israel Prisons Service said the prisoners would be released around noon, with 209 to be transported to a checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Ramallah and the
18 others to the Erez crossing with the northern Gaza Strip.

Israel said it was freeing the prisoners as a goodwill gesture to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to mark the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), and to boost him opposite Hamas, his radical Islamic rival ruling the Gaza Strip.

Most of those to be freed are members of the armed wings of Abbas' secular Fatah movement. None are members of Hamas, officials said. (dpa)