After year of prayer for the release of captures soldiers, two were returned this morning to Israel, but not alive. May the families of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev find comfort in the definitive knowledge of this situation and be comforted among the mourners of Zion.
–Dave
9:41AM IL: The International Red Cross has just shown the coffins of IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, confirming intelligence reports that the two are not among the living.
10:08AM IL: A short time ago, two coffins, presumably containing the remains of IDF reservists Sergeant-Major Ehud Goldwasser and Staff-Sergeant Eldad Regev, were returned to Israel by representatives of the International Red Cross.
The first order of business is the identification process of the remains of the soldiers. The coffins are returned two years and four days after the soldiers were taken prisoner by Hizbullah terrorists in a cross-border attack in northern Israel. Once the bodies have been positively identified, Israel will permit the release of Samir Kuntar and four other Lebanese terrorists and the return of the remains of 199 terrorists.
Simultaneously, IDF Major-Generals Elazar Stern and Gadi Shamni will make their way to the homes of the Goldwasser and Regev families to inform them of the fate of their sons.
In a somewhat ironic twist, Stern, who is the head of the IDF’s Human Resources Branch, notified both families that their sons were taken captive. Today, Stern’s last day in the IDF, he must now inform the families their loved ones are no longer among the living. Shamni is the IDF Central Division Commander and the senior commander of the two. (Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
[From Yeshiva World News]
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Two black coffins purported to contain the remains of two Israeli soldiers were carried on Red Cross trucks across the Lebanese border on Wednesday as a long-awaited prisoner exchange between Israel and Hezbollah got underway.
Members of Hezbollah handed over the Red Cross coffins believed to contain the bodies of two Israeli soldiers.
Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militia, said the coffins, which were handed over to the Israeli military at the Rosh Hanikra border crossing, contained the remains of two Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were captured in a cross-border raid that started the war between Hezbollah and Israel two years ago.
The transfer of the two coffins was the first confirmation by Hezbollah that the two soldiers were dead. Hezbollah had refused to clarify whether the soldiers had been killed at the time of their capture or afterward, although it had long been assumed in Israel that they were no longer alive.
[From NYTimes]
