TEL AVIV - The government is expected to approve Sunday the release of another 400 Palestinian prisoners. The move would complete the release of 900 Palestinian detainees, a goodwill gesture Israel pledged to implement at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit in February attended by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Barring last-minute delays, the prisoners may be released as early as this coming weekend. Security officials examine list Meanwhile, Israel has loosened previous release criteria stipulating that only prisoners who served at least two-thirds of their sentence be freed. The move was necessary because apparently too few detainees would have been released otherwise. However, prisoners with “blood on their hands” would remain behind bars for the time being. Once the government approves the latest release in principle, the list of detainees slated to walk free would be forwarded to the ministerial committee for prisoner release affairs, which is expected to confirm the names. Earlier, security officials went over the list of names and examined the danger posed by each prisoner. Health Minister Danny Naveh opposed the prisoner release, arguing that "it'll be a serious mistake and a bad message to release terrorists at a time when Palestinians are continuing to commit terrorist attacks and doing nothing against the terror infrastructure." 500 prisoners released earlier this year Israel has already released 500 prisoners, including four female detainees, back in February. The list of detainees freed did not include those with “blood on their hands,” but did including many prisoners involved in shooting attacks. Other detainees who walked free were planning suicide bombings, but failed to murder any Israelis. At the time, a State representative admitted during a High Court hearing that 180 out of the 500 prisoners did not serve two-thirds of their sentence. During the hearing, the State attorney also declared prisoners who do not sign a statement pledging to refrain from terror activity would not be set free.