Israelis mourn, honor 2 soldiers

NAHARIYA, Israel — Thousands of Israelis prayed and cried at funerals Thursday for two soldiers whose return from Lebanon in black coffins touched off a nationwide wave of anguish.

Across the border, a second day of celebrations swept Lebanon for the five militants freed by Israel in exchange for the soldiers' bodies. They prayed at the grave of a slain Hezbollah military commander and vowed to keep fighting Israel.

The contrast in moods was tangible. In Israel, sorrowful pictures and sounds of the funerals of the two soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, dominated TV and radio broadcasts through the day, the tears of the widows and parents shown over and over. Regev and Goldwasser were captured two years ago in a cross-border raid by Hezbollah fighters.

Soldiers carried Regev's casket, draped with the Israeli flag, into the military cemetery in the northern city of Haifa. A military rabbi chanted as Regev's father leaned on another family member, who comforted him. Thousands of other mourners trailed behind.

Regev's brother, Ofer Regev, bitterly denounced Hezbollah for refusing to say during the two years whether the two men were dead or alive.

Earlier in the day, soldiers from Goldwasser's reserve unit, who asked to be called up to duty for the day, carried his casket to the grave, lowering it into the ground in Nahariya.

In keeping with Jewish tradition, Goldwasser's father, Shlomo, wore a shirt ripped at the front to signify mourning.

His widow, Karnit, held on to her father-in-law as each wiped away tears.

"Maybe time will allow the bleeding wounds to heal,” she said.