The Israeli cabinet decided to expel six Palestinian prisoners after they finished their sentence, Palestinian Minister of Prisoners Ashraf al-Ajrami said on Monday.

Al-Ajrami said the detainees are now held in Ashkelon jail, some of them were arrested since years, "under the pretext that they don't have Palestinian identity cards."

"The Israeli government did not find any Arab or even European countries to receive the prisoners though they are Palestinians," al-Ajrami said.

Meanwhile, local Maan news agency reported that the prisoners reject being deported and demand the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to intervene, especially as they finished their jail sentence.

Israel intensified pressure on the Palestinian prisoners after indirect talks failed to broker a prisoner exchange deal securing the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held hostage since2006 by Islamic Hamas movement, the PNA's bitter rival and ruler of the Gaza Strip.

Israel accuses Hamas of hardening its demands but the Islamic movement insists that it would select the names of the first 450 inmates from more than 1,000 prisoners to be freed.