The Nation bowed its head in mourning Wednesday as the day ended with the return to Israel of the bodies of kidnapped IDF reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser and the handover of convicted murderer Samir Kuntar and four Hizbullah prisoners to Lebanon.
The bitter prisoner exchange began on Wednesday morning when Hizbullah handed over the two coffins containing the soldiers' bodies .
While Hizbullah rolled out the red carpet and Lebanon declared a national holiday and prepared to welcome terrorist Samir Kuntar and four Hizbullah
operatives home, the painful process of identifiying the soldiers' bodies got underway. Israel meanwhile began transferring the bodies of 185 Hizbullah fighters killed in the second lebanon war.
The identification of the two IDF reservists remains took several hours, due to the deteriorated state of the soldiers' bodies.
Early Wednesday afternoon OC Human Resources Maj. -Gen. Elazar Stern and OC Central Command Maj. -Gen. Gadi Shamni arrived at the Regev and Goldwasser homes to notify the families. Later in the day the families made their way to the Shraga base, south of Nahariya, to pay their respects to the two soldiers, whom they fought tirelessly for two years to secure their return. Later, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was scheduled to meet with the families.
The army announced that Ehud Goldwasser will be buried in the Nahariya Military Cemetery on Thursday, at 10 am and Eldad Regev will be buried in the Haifa Military Cemetery on Thursday, at 2 pm.
Late Wednesday Hizbullah handed over the body parts of soldiers killed in the second lebanon war and Kuntar and the four Hizbullah operatives were transported via the Rosh Hanikra crossing to Lebanon.
After two years Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser have finally returned home.
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