Word: hizballah
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...July 2006, commandos from the Lebanese militia Hizballah stole into northern Israel and, during a firefight, kidnapped two soldiers - Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. Their capture triggered a month-long war in which 159 Israelis and 1,109 Lebanese were killed. But the fate of the two soldiers remained unclear...
Were they alive? No proof of life was ever given by Hizballah. And a medical report carried out a week after the ambush stated that in all likelihood, the two soldiers probably died of wounds soon after they were captured. Even with that grim knowledge, Israeli pressed ahead with the war, in a fruitless attempt to crush the Lebanese militia. When the war ended, Israel began in earnest to seek Regev and Goldwasser's return, even if that meant collecting two coffins...
...Sunday, the Israeli cabinet shrugged off warnings by its own top military and intelligence advisers and voted by a large majority to carry out a prisoner exchange with Hizballah. Reliable military sources told TIME that in exchange for Regev and Goldwasser, Israel agreed to hand over 15 Lebanese prisoners - including 10 Hizballah fighters killed during the 2006 war, four jailed Hizballah members and one Lebanese-Druze murderer serving a life sentence in Israel. The deal was brokered by a senior German diplomat with experience in similar prisoner exchanges, sources say. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also confirmed on Sunday...
Israeli officials say that the prisoner exchange could happen "within a week to 10 days," probably via Germany, which is acting as an intermediary between Israel and its sworn enemy Hizballah...
...families of Regev and Goldwasser also kept up a steady campaign in Israel and abroad, pressing Olmert for action on the return of the two soldiers. On Sunday, after the cabinet announced that it would exchange prisoners with Hizballah, Olmert met personally with the Regev and Goldwasser families, who expressed their approval of the cabinet decision and said they expected a swift conclusion to the deal. Israeli leaders are hoping to oblige the families, but the timing is now up to Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who may drag the process out for weeks, or even months, say Israelis. Olmert...