JERUSALEM - Israel handed over a convicted Hezbollah spy to Lebanon on Sunday and in a surprise move the Islamic guerrilla group turned over what it said were the body parts of Israeli soldiers killed in a 2006 war.

The Hezbollah gesture, along with recent comments by its leader, signaled that a larger prisoner exchange could be in the works between the two bitter enemies.

Israel said publicly that Sunday’s exchanges were unrelated to a deal that would include Israel releasing the longest-serving Lebanese prisoner and Hezbollah setting free two soldiers captured in a 2006 cross-border raid that sparked a monthlong war.

But a senior Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said a deal was in the making, even though there was no timetable for completing it.

Israeli authorities released Nasim Nisr, an Israeli of Lebanese descent after he completed a six-year sentence for espionage and drove him from a prison in central Israel to the northern Rosh Hanikra crossing.

Hezbollah official Wafik Safa told the group’s al-Manar TV station that it handed over a brown box containing what it said were the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in the war.

Nasrallah has boasted in the past that he holds the arms and legs of Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli army said the remains would undergo forensic examination.

Helge Kvam, a Red Cross spokesman in Jerusalem, called Hezbollah’s move a "complete surprise," and the Israeli military said the move was not coordinated.

written by Andrew