Occupied Jerusalem: Two Israeli soldiers held by Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon since last summer are being treated "humanely," a Hezbollah official told an Israeli Arab newspaper published yesterday, in what the paper interpreted as the first hint that the two captives are alive.
Israelis have been hoping for a sign of life from the two soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, since they were captured on July 12, 2006.
Mahmoud Qamati, the deputy leader of Hezbollah's political bureau, told the Nazareth-based Al Sennara newspaper that Islam requires that captives be given "humane treatment."
"The enemy soldier when he becomes a prisoner receives humane treatment. This is how our current prisoners are being treated," Qamati was quoted as saying.
In a statement from Beirut, Hezbollah denied the report and said Qamati had told the newspaper "he was not authorised to speak on the subject."
But a tape recording of the interview played suggests that the newspaper accurately quoted Qamati.
Relatives of the two captured soldiers were unmoved by Qamati's statements.
"If they are so proud that they take care of them and that their condition is good - let us see them," Ehud Goldwasser's wife, Karnit, told Israel's Maariv newspaper.
