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EST 1917

Israeli Cabinet OK’s swap deal

Israel’s Cabinet gave its final OK to the prisoner swap deal with Hezbollah.

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Israel’s Cabinet gave its final OK to the prisoner swap deal with Hezbollah.

The Cabinet voted 22-3 in favor of the swap, in which Hezbollah will hand over to Israel the two soldiers it took captive on July 12, 2006, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, in the attack that sparked the Second Lebanon War.

In exchange, Israel will release several Lebanese prisoners, including Samir Kuntar, a Lebanese man who infiltrated Israel in 1979 and murdered four Israelis. Israel will also hand over the remains of Hezbollah fighters killed in the 2006 war.

The swap was scheduled for Wednesday morning at the Rosh Hanikra border crossing, where the Israel-Lebanon border meets the Mediterranean Sea.

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