The Israeli Prime Minister has confirmed that a deal is underway to bring home the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

According to Mr Netanyahu's official Twitter feed, the 25-year-old will be coming home within days.

"We have concluded arduous negotiations with Hamas to release Gilad Shalit. He will be coming home in the next few days," said a message posted on Twitter.

Gilad Shalit could be freed as early as next month after more than five years in captivity if a reported prisoner swap goes ahead.

According to the Al-Arabiya television network Israel and Hamas have agreed on a deal, to take place in November.

The Israeli family of one of the American hikers who was freed after 781 days in captivity in Iran has expressed relief at his release.

Josh Fattal, who turned 29 while in an Iranian jail, was back home in Philadelphia this week for the first time in more than two years.

The British Jewish community has joined international efforts to highlight Gilad Shalit's continued captivity as the soldier marks his sixth birthday since he was kidnapped by Hamas.

Sergeant Shalit, who was 19 when he was captured in Israel by Hamas terrorists while he was guarding the border with Gaza, turns 25 on Sunday.

The Zionist Federation has launched a campaign to highlight the plight of a Druze Israeli soldier declared missing more than six years ago.

Majdi Halabi was last seen at a hitchhiking stop near Mount Carmel on May 24 2005. He was 19 at the time; the same age as another IDF soldier, Gilad Shalit, was when he was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists the following year.

Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli has reportedly moved on from her former partner Leonardo DiCaprio.

The couple split up after more than five years in May, six months after he accompanied her to Israel to visit her family.

But Ms Refaeli, 26, has now been spotted in Tel Aviv with a new mystery man, named in the press as David Fisher. Mr Fisher, 35, is an Israeli businessman.

As the Second Lebanon War went on, less and less appeared in the newspapers about the two men whose kidnapping led to the conflict.

Eldad Regev was 25 when he was captured during an attack on their patrol at the Israel-Lebanon border in 2006, Ehud Goldwasser, at 30, was older and married.

The Quartet on the Middle East failed to agree on a statement outlining the next step for the already fragile peace process.

Despite hours of discussions in Washington on Monday, by the end of the day they could not offer a unified position.

The mediators, from the UK, US, Russia and the EU, admitted that there was "more work" to be done before negotiations could resume.