The funerals of two Israeli soldiers, whose bodies were returned home two years after being captured by Hezbollah, have taken place today.
Thousands attended funerals for Eldad Regev and for Ehud Goldwasser, which was broadcast live on Israeli television.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak said at Mr Goldwasser's graveside that Israel was heartbroken and had paid a heavy price by freeing five militants in exchange for the bodies.
The capture of the soldiers in a 12 July 2006 cross-border raid sparked a devastating 34-day war. However Israel failed to recover the captured troops.
It has since emerged that the men probably died when they were ambushed.
Until yesterday their fate was unknown as the Lebanese militant group never revealed whether they were alive or dead.
Mr Goldwasser suffered a lethal wound to the chest from a rocket-propelled grenade.
Mr Regev appeared to have been shot in the head.
An Israeli spokesperson said forensic pathologists had difficulty reaching their conclusions because the bodies had not been refrigerated.
The two reserve soldiers' bodies were handed over to Israel yesterday as part of a deal in which the Jewish state freed four Hezbollah fighters captured during the 2006 war.
A convicted triple murderer and the remains of some 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters killed over the years were returned to Hezbollah.
