In negotiations for the 2004 prisoner exchange, Hezbollah had sought the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel. While many were released, Hezbollah failed to achieve the release of Samir Kuntar. Having failed to achieve this objective, Hassan Nasrallah declared that the organization would carry out further operations at a later date to gain the release of the remaining prisoners.[7] The Hezbollah leader later called for talks on prisoner exchange which was officially rejected by Olmert.[8] However it is widely believed that negotiations are underway with Egypt as mediator.