"If this chance is not taken, we will work to increase the number," Nasrallah

JIBCHIT, Lebanon, July 28 (IslamOline.net & News Agencies) - The head of Lebanon's resistance movement Hezbollah warned Sunday, July 27, that the movement would capture more Israeli soldiers unless Lebanese prisoners held in Israel were released.

"We are going to give a last chance for negotiations to exchange prisoners between us and Israel. (But) If this chance is not taken, we will consider the number of Israeli prisoners we hold is not enough and work night and day to increase the number," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Nasrallah as telling a crowd of Hezbollah supporters in the southern village of Jibchit.

The Hezbollah leader, while calling for Germany to resume a mediation mission on the prisoners issue, said he could "not give any assurance on the fate of colonel Tenenbaum," one of the four Israelis captured by Hezbollah, who was seized in Beirut.

"As the media have reported, Tenenbaum has a serious illness. We have treated him, but today I can not say whether he is dead or alive."

Hezbollah has been holding four Israelis since October 2000, three of them soldiers captured in the Shebaa Farms disputed border area. Israel is holding about 20 Lebanese, including Hezbollah chiefs Mustafa Dirani and Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid.

Negotiations on an exchange of prisoners have been deadlocked for the past two years. Israel has demanded information on the health of its missing nationals, while Hezbollah refuses to allow a Red Cross visit.

Nasrallah's speech was delivered on the 14th anniversary of Israel's capture of Sheikh Obeid.

Bowing to Nasrallah's threats, an Israeli minister said Monday, July 28, that Israel was ready to exchange prisoners with Hezbollah.

"We were ready for an exchange of prisoners and missing and we still are," AFP quoted as saying Gideon Ezara, the minister for relations with parliament.

In April 2002, Nasrallah offered late to free Tenenbaum in exchange for the lives of Palestinians abducted in the West Bank city of Jenin.