Ali Hassan Khalil Says Israeli Captives Killed in 2006 Raid by Jewish State, Israel Denies
Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, who is Speaker Nabih Berri’s top aide, has unveiled that an Israeli raid killed two soldiers who were taken captive by Hizbullah fighters in a deadly cross border attack in July 2006.
In his memoirs of the 2006 summer war between Israel and Hizbullah published by As-Safir daily, Khalil said that Hizbullah official Hussein Khalil informed him about the death of the two soldiers in “one of the biggest secrets” of the conflict.
“Israeli bombardment in the past few days has led to the killing of the two Israeli captives,” the Shiite party official told Berri’s aide.
He stressed that Hizbullah members “made all efforts under danger to preserve the bodies and transport them.”
Ali Hassan Khalil wrote that Hizbullah’s Khalil quipped saying Israel had killed the captives that it declared war to free them.
“As a resistance, we will continue the battle of negotiations as if nothing has happened.”
Later on Wednesday, the Israeli military aid firmly rejected Khalil’s statements, saying: "The remarks made by the representative of the Hizbullah, a recognized terror organization, are blatant fabrications and part of a psychological warfare attempt.”
"Hizbullah is responsible for the kidnapping of the soldiers and, as such, is responsible for the tragic results leading to their deaths," it said in a statement.
The war began when Hizbullah fighters captured the two soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, in the cross border attack on July 12, 2006, with the aim of exchanging them for Lebanese and Arab prisoners held in Israel.
But Israel launched a 34-day offensive on Lebanon demanding the freeing of the soldiers. Hizbullah had always remained mum on the fate of the soldiers until it handed over their remains in a 2008 prisoner swap that saw the release of Samir Kantar, who had been serving multiple life terms in Israel, and four other Lebanese prisoners.
Though Israeli officials had suspected Goldwasser and Regev were dead, the sight of the coffins was the first confirmation of their fate.
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