Ofir Dekel, the government official negotiating for the release of kidnapped IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, is updating the soldiers' families Wednesday afternoon, leading to speculation that a deal may soon be finalized for their return. Their fate is not known, but most reports have indicated they probably are not alive. It is known that both of them were wounded during the cross border raid in July 2006 that sparked the Second Lebanon War.
Dekel recently returned from Berlin, where he has been negotiating terms of an agreement, which most reports indicate include Israel's freeing Hizbullah terrorist Samir Kuntar, even if the soldiers are not alive.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed during the war that Israel would continue to fight until Goldwasser and Regev were freed, and later said Israel would not agree to a ceasefire without their return.