Israel Matzav

Israel does not have bodies of four soldiers killed in tank

Live bodies are not the only ones for which Hezbullah tries to extor a price. Recall that in 2004, part of the price that Israel paid Hezbullah was for the bodies of three soldiers whom Hezbullah had kidnapped in 2000. Moreover, Hezbullah loves to try to extract a price for obtaining information about a missing soldier - usually without ever saying whether the soldier is dead or alive. That's one reason this report is so disturbing.

The JPost is delicately reporting that Israel is 'continuing efforts to reclaim' the bodies of the four soldiers who were killed when their tank ran over a mine today. In other words, Israel does not have the bodies and it is likely that Hezbullah does. It goes almost without saying that this is being done under heavy fire and at substantial risk to the soldiers involved.

This evening, the names of two of the seven soldiers killed in Lebanon today were released for publication: Sgt.-Major Eyal Benin, 22, of Be'ersheba and Sgt.-Major Shani Turgeman, 24, of Beit Shean. All the soldiers' families have been notified. The Post does not say whether Benin and Turgeman were in the tank that ran over the mine or in the 'hummer' from which two other soldiers were kidnapped.

The two kidnapped soldiers are described as "a 22-year-old career military officer from the Druse village of Kfar Yanuach in the Galilee and a 26-year-old reservist from Kiryat Motzkin." Both were wounded. You may recall that earlier today I ran a report claiming that both of these soldiers were Druze. Obviously one them is, but it is very unlikely that the reservist from Kiryat Motzkin - just north of Haifa - is Druze. That's a Jewish town.

While Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah announced at Wednesday afternoon press conference that the two kidnapped soldiers were "in a safe and very distant place," a senior Hizbullah official claimed that at least one of the two was still alive. That implies that one of them is dead, but of course, Hezbullah will not tell us that.

The IDF's working assumption is that they are both alive. The blood stains found near the 'hummer' were not significant.

The army has destroyed 30 targets and Hizbullah outposts in Lebanon, as well as three bridges, since the beginning of the operation earlier today. But for the families of the soldiers - those who are there and those who are on their way there - that is small consolation.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:04 PM