Occupied Jerusalem: The Israeli army on Sunday exhumed the bodies of Hezbollah fighters ahead of a prisoner swap in exchange for two captured Israeli soldiers, an official said.

Representatives of the military rabbinate began exhuming the remains of the Hezbollah men, the defence official said.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah last Wednesday said that the prisoner swap would take place within two weeks after the Israeli government approved the deal.

Under the deal, Israel would release five Lebanese prisoners, the remains of Hezbollah militants and Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

The two were captured by Hezbollah in a cross-border raid on July 12, 2006 that sparked a 34-day war in Lebanon that killed more than 1,200 people.