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 30 August 2008 07:23 BST

Israeli-Hizbullah prisoner swap delay

Monday, 30 Jun 2008 10:02
Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah
A planned prisoner exchange between Israeli and militant group Hizbullah could take two weeks to complete, according to reports.

The AFP news agency cited Israeli defence officials making the warning one day after Israeli's Cabinet approved the rare swap.

Yesterday prime minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet he believes the two Israeli prisoners captured by Hizbullah in 2006, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, to be dead.

The delay is being attributed to the time needed to carry out DNA tests on the remains to determine their identity.

The Israeli soldiers' capture triggered a two-month conflict in south Lebanon which ended with the withdrawal of Israeli troops in August 2006.

Under the terms of the prisoner swap deal the pair's remains are set to be exchanged with five Lebanese fighters and a number of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Among those to be released is Samir Qantar, who has been serving a life sentence since murdering an unarmed Israeli and his four-year-old daughter in 1979 in a raid on a northern Israeli town.End of story


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