After a long national debate, the Israeli cabinet voted to trade a Lebanese murderer for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers. The Israeli army has confirmed that human remains handed over by Lebanon’s Hezbollah as part of a prisoner swap are those of two of its soldiers, BBC reports.

The two men, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, were captured in 2006, but it was not certain they had died.

In return, Israel is handing over five Lebanese prisoners and the bodies of 200 Lebanese and Palestinians fighters and a captive for the body of an Israeli was linked to efforts to win freedom of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah a year ago. Israel received the body of an Israeli who drowned nearly three years ago in exchange for the bodies of two Lebanese militants killed in the war last summer and another Hezbollah captive, who was released for medical reasons, the statement by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office said.

Israeli generals have reportedly visited both the soldiers’ families to inform them personally of the identification.