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Occupied Jerusalem: Thousands of mourners gathered on Thursday as one of the two Israeli soldiers returned in a prisoner exchange with Hezbollah guerrillas was buried.
Ehud Goldwasser was one of two soldiers whose remains were returned by Hezbollah in exchange for five Lebanese prisoners and the remains of some 200 of Arab fighters.
His wooden coffin was lowered into the ground by soldiers wearing the purple caps of an elite brigade. His widow, Karnit Goldwasser, held on to her late husband's father as each wiped away tears.
Mourners, politicians and reporters crammed into a military cemetery in the northern Israeli town of Nahariya on Thursday to bury Goldwasser.
Another funeral is expected later on Thursday for Eldad Regev, the other soldier returned in the Israel-Hezbollah exchange on Wednesday.
The prisoner exchange with Hezbollah closed a painful chapter from Israel's 2006 war against the militant group, which began after Lebanese guerrillas kidnapped the two soldiers in a cross-border raid.
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