JERUSALEM ( CNN ) -- Israel agreed to release a notorious killer Sunday in order to bring closure to the families of three missing military men , a government spokesman said . An Israeli woman stands in front of posters of captured soldiers Sunday in Jerusalem . `` It 's not an easy decision , '' Mark Regev told CNN . `` One of the people being released is a brutal murderer , a man that with his own hands killed infants -- a terrible crime , but this is a nasty business . '' He was referring to Samir Kuntar , the longest-serving Lebanese prisoner in Israel , who is hailed as a hero by Hezbollah . Kuntar was convicted for a 1979 attack in which he shot and killed an Israeli man in front of his 4-year-old daughter before smashing her head against a rock and tossing her into the sea . The victim 's 2-year-old daughter was accidentally smothered by her mother , who tried to keep her quiet as they hid from the attackers . Kuntar was convicted for murdering both children in the attack , which the Palestine Liberation Front orchestrated to protest the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty at Camp David the previous year . Kuntar is one of five Lebanese prisoners who Israel will release in exchange for two Israeli soldiers , Ehud `` Udi '' Goldwasser and Eldad Regev . The Lebanon-based Shiite militant group kindapped the two in a July 2006 raid into northern Israel that left three other Israeli soldiers dead . Hezbollah never gave Israel any indication whether they survived the attack , which sparked a 34-day war , leaving the families in limbo . Before the vote , Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet that the two soldiers are not alive , `` as far as we know . '' `` We 'll have a final answer when they are returned , '' Regev said . Goldwasser and Regev are at the center of the landmark agreement , which has been years in the making , with both sides using the prisoners and intelligence as bartering chips . Under the deal , which the Cabinet approved 22-3 on Sunday , Hezbollah will also release information about Ron Arad , an Israeli navigator who has been missing since he was forced to eject from his plane over Lebanon in October 1986 . `` We have an obligation , a moral obligation to their families to bring finality , '' Regev said . `` That if they are in fact no longer living , that their families can have a funeral , that they can have a grave , that they can know that this is over . '' Israel has repeatedly attempted to get information about Arad and other missing airmen by using Lebanese detainees as leverage . Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised the Arad family that Kuntar will not be released unless Hezbollah provides information on Arad . In addition to Kuntar and other Lebanese prisoners , Israel will also release Palestinian prisoners and return the remains of dozens of border infiltrators and eight Hezbollah members to Lebanon , according to a statement from the government . Israel will also provide information to the United Nations about four Iranian diplomats who disappeared in Beirut during the 1982 Israeli invasion , the statement said . Earlier this month , Israel deported a Lebanese-born man who served six years in jail on charges of spying for Hezbollah . In exchange , Hezbollah handed over a brown coffin containing the remains of Israeli soldiers killed during the 2006 war . The move was seen as a prelude to a possible prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah . CNN 's Shira Medding and and Ben Wedeman contributed to this report .
Hezbollah agrees to swap prisoners for two captured soldiers . Lebanese prime minister says two soldiers most likely not alive . Jerusalem will release two Israeli prisoners , including convicted killer .