Israel says Hezbollah release of soldiers will take time
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday that indirect negotiations with the Lebanese Hezbollah militia for the release of two captured soldiers were still underway and would take time.
"The negotiations will take more time and have not been concluded," Olmert told reporters before flying to Egypt for talks with President Hosni Mubarak about a third soldier being held by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
Last week Lebanese and Israeli officials hinted at the imminent release of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser — both captured in a bloody cross-border raid in July 2006 that sparked a 34-day war in Lebanon.
Lebanese media had said the swap would involve Israel releasing four or five Lebanese prisoners including Samir Kantar, current serving a life sentence for killing two men and a four-year-old girl in a 1979 attack in northern Israel.
The two soldiers are believed to have been wounded during their capture and Hezbollah has provided no proof that they are still alive.