Israel Buries Soldiers Returned in Swap

As Israel mourns the death of the two soldiers who were returned in a swap with Hizbollah. The five prisoners who were released back to Lebannon vowed to continue fighting Israel as Nasrallah and company rejoiced. Reuters

NAHARIYA, Israel (Reuters) - Thousands attended Israeli funerals on Thursday for two slain soldiers returned in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah and their grief contrasted with Lebanon's joy over guerrillas freed in the deal.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak told the soldiers and civilians gathered at the graveside of Ehud Goldwasser, 31, that Israel was "heartbroken" and had "paid a heavy price" to bring home the bodies by freeing five guerrillas involved in deadly attacks.

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The funerals were broadcast live on national television and Israelis watched as Goldwasser's widow wept at his grave. The two men were captured in a cross-border Hezbollah raid that sparked a 2006 war.

The Shi'ite group had not commented on the soldiers' condition since capturing them in the war in which some 1,200 Lebanese and 159 Israelis were killed, fuelling hopes that they may have survived.

"I just can't believe it. Udi, we thought it would be otherwise, we hoped you would return home," Daniella Avni, Goldwasser's mother-in-law said before his burial.

[...]

"Woe betide the people who celebrate the release of a beastly man who bludgeoned the skull of a 4-year-old toddler," Olmert said in a statement, referring to the girl Qantar killed with her father.

He should've never been released.