A U.N. envoy deplored Hezbollah’s failure to provide proof that two Israeli soldiers in its custody are alive.
Michael Williams, the U.N. envoy to the Middle East, told the Security Council on Wednesday that he had tried and failed to find out what befell Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev after they were snatched by the Lebanese militia in a July 2006 raid across Israel’s border.
“I have to say with deep regret personally — because I have made very considerable efforts in this regard — that more than 13 months after their abductions, we still cannot establish proof of life,” Williams said, adding that nations with ties to Hezbollah should press the group on the matter.
An Israeli military probe has determined that Goldwasser and Regev, both reservists, were likely wounded during their abduction and may have been killed.
Hezbollah, which wants to repatriate the soldiers in exchange for a mass release of Arab prisoners by Israel, has refused to provide any preliminary information.
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