JERUSALEM (Thomson Financial) - Israel's cabinet on Sunday gave the green light for a prisoner swap with Hezbollah, although Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said two soldiers held by the Lebanese militia are known to be dead, public radio said.
The agreement was approved with 22 votes in favour out of a total of 25 at a meeting of the Israeli cabinet, the radio said, quoting government sources.
At the start of the session, Olmert urged his cabinet to approve the proposed prisoner exchange but said the two soldiers whose release Israel is seeking are dead.
The Lebanese militia captured Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser in a deadly cross-border raid on July 12, 2006 that sparked a 34-day war in Lebanon.
Separately, Israel on Sunday reopened a Gaza border crossing to allow commercial goods into the Palestinian territory which had been sealed off after militants fired rockets in violation of a truce.
At the same time, the Hamas rulers of the territory arrested the spokesman of a Palestinian faction that claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on Israel on Thursday.
The Sufa crossing between Israel and Gaza was reopened on Sunday morning, and an Israeli official said 60 to 70 truckloads of humanitarian aid would be allowed into the Palestinian territory in the course of the day.
Israeli officials were to decide later whether to also reopen the Karni terminal that has been mainly used to deliver grain to Gaza since Israel imposed a blockade on the impoverished territory.
The Nahal Oz terminal, which handles most of the fuel supplies destined for the Gaza Strip, reopened on Friday.
Israel had closed the crossings after militants fired three rockets across the border on Tuesday in an attack that lightly wounded two people. The attack was claimed by the Islamic Jihad movement, which later agreed to abide by the ceasefire. tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com hjp COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2008. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.