Israel was concerned Tuesday night that the United Nations would encourage terrorists who are supposed to remain outside Israel and Gaza to return to their families, after UN Human Rights Council head Navi Pillay said that requiring the terrorists to relocate from their original homes was against international law.

Pillay said that the Council may interview terrorists to determine whether or not they willingly agreed to leave their original homes.

“It was with a sense of great relief that we have received news of the agreement to exchange prisoners. We do however have concerns regarding reports that hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank may be released to the Gaza Strip or abroad,” a spokesperson for Pillay, Rupert Colville told Reuters.

“If in some cases this has been without the free and informed consent of the concerned individuals, this may constitute forced transfer or deportation under international law,” he added. “We are not sure to what extent they consented to this.”

Colville did not specify what action, if any, the Council would take, but sources in Israel said they could foresee a scenario where the Council encouraged terrorists to challenge the agreement and attempt to reenter Gaza or Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria.

According to the deal worked out with Hamas, 40 of the first group of released terrorists cannot return to Judea and Samaria, and are to be deported to Turkey, Qatar, and Syria.

In a statement Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that he hoped the negotiations on Shalit’s release would lead to other talks between Israel and Hamas. In a statement to Reuters, Ban said that “with this release, it will have a far-reaching positive impact to the stalled Middle East peace process.

“I am very encouraged by the prisoner exchange today after many many years of negotiation. The United Nations has been calling for (an end to) the unacceptable detention of Gilad Shalit and also the release of all Palestinians whose human rights have been abused all the time,” the statement by Ban added.