U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay on Wednesday urged the Gaza Strip's Islamist rulers Hamas to halt a string of executions planned after the end of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.

"I am deeply concerned at the possibility that executions might be carried out over the course of the next weeks in Gaza and urgently appeal to the de facto authorities there not to implement any death sentences," Pillay said in a statement.

Israel released at dawn a Syrian shepherd, who was abducted by commandos on Tuesday, after questioning him and warning refugees of crossing into the Golan Heights.

The Syrian refugee, Mohammed al-Badawi, was kidnapped from the occupied Shebaa Farms after the commandos crossed the Blue Line and advanced 100 meters into Lebanon.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour filed last week a complaint through Lebanon's mission to the United Nations against Israel's violation of the Blue Line, the state-run National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

According to the news agency, the complaint came in light of a landmine blast along the northern border with Lebanon that injured four Israeli soldiers.

Israel will build "thousands" of new homes in settlements in the West Bank, Housing Minister Uri Ariel insisted on Wednesday, just hours before Israeli-Palestinian peace talks were to resume.

"We will build thousands of homes in the coming year in Judaea and Samaria," he told public radio, using the biblical term for the West Bank.

Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that the ground battle with Israelis is easier than the disputes among the foes locally, As Safir newspaper quoted him as saying on Wednesday.

“The target is always clear during battles with the Israelis and the options are limited, while locally the difficulties are limitless,” Nasrallah pointed out.

Israel freed 26 Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday, hours before the two sides were to hold new direct peace talks amid a growing row over settlements.

A group of 15 crossed into the Gaza Strip at about 1:40 am (22:40 GMT) and were mobbed by relatives as they got out of a bus next to the border.

Israel began the process of releasing 26 Palestinian prisoners late Tuesday, an initial gesture on the eve of renewed Mideast negotiations.

Thousands of Palestinians have spent time in Israeli prisons since Israel's capture of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in 1967. They were jailed on charges ranging from throwing rocks to killing civilians in bombings and other attacks.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon will tour the Middle East this week to "buttress" Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the U.N. announced Tuesday.

The trip will come on the heels of Ban's visit to Pakistan, which wraps up Wednesday, and as Israeli and Palestinian parties are slated to return to the negotiating table for their next round of talks.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is committed to pursuing peace talks with Israel despite the unresolved issue of Israeli settlement building, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said here Tuesday.

"I'll be talking to president Abbas today ... and he is committed to continuing to come to the negotiation because he believes that negotiation is what will resolve this issue," Kerry said in Brasilia.

Israeli commando troops on Tuesday crossed the border of the occupied Shebaa Farms and abducted a Syrian shepherd, the state-run National News Agency reported.

"Syrian refugee Mohammed al-Badawi was kidnapped after the commandos crossed the Blue Line between the Golan Heights and the Shebaa Farms and advanced 100 meters into Lebanon,” the NNA detailed.