News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The officer in charge of identifying the remains of kidnapped IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev said Thursday that one of the reasons for the delay in concluding the process was the need to make sure that Hizbullah terrorists had not booby-trapped the soldiers' black coffins. Reserve Lt. Col. Rabbi Yaakov Roja explained that contrary to reports that the delay was because of the difficulty in identifying the remains, there was no doubt "which body belongs to whom."

He said that "the difficulty was more emotional than it was scientific." More than 10 forensic experts were involved concluding that the bodies were those of Goldwasser and Regev, a decision that allows the soldiers' wives to be declared widows and enabling them to re-marry under Jewish law.