US News

ISRAEL: 3 ABDUCTED SOLDIERS LIKELY DEAD

JERUSALEM – In a rare move, Israel said yesterday three soldiers seized by Hezbollah guerrillas a year ago were probably dead.

The fate of the three, captured on the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, has been uncertain for months – as Hezbollah indicated it was willing to work out a trade for them.

“Since the first day of the abduction, we resolved not to comment on the condition of the Zionist prisoners except in exchange for the full satisfaction of our demands,” Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said yesterday.

But a high-ranking source told The Post that according to highly credible intelligence, two of the soldiers were killed immediately after being seized and the third died of his wounds a short time later.

Maj. Gen. Gil Regev, the Israeli army’s personnel chief, told reporters the likelihood that the three are dead is “extremely high.”

Sources said the announcement was made to ease the suffering of the families of soldiers Adi Avitan, Omar Souad and Benny Avraham – who still refuse to believe they are dead.

“As long as there is no proof our sons are dead, we will continue to believe there is a chance they are still alive,” said Haim Avraham, father of Benny, after being briefed by Israeli army officials.

The case gained wide attention after the U.N. ended months of denials in July by confirming their peacekeepers had taken videotapes of the kidnapping site and had evidence that the kidnappers posed as peacekeepers to attack the soldiers.

Regev’s comments were unusual because Israel normally waits until the bodies of victims are located before declaring them dead.

For example, Ron Arad, a navigator who disappeared 16 years ago, is still only listed as missing – even though it is widely assumed he was captured by Hezbollah and transferred to Iran’s revolutionary guards, who killed him.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces completed their withdrawal from the West Bank towns of Bethlehem and Beit Jala yesterday.

But officials in Jerusalem said they would wait for the Palestinians to fulfill their obligation under a U.S.-brokered timetable before withdrawing from four other Palestinian towns.

The Palestinian obligation is to arrest suspected terrorists in Bethlehem and Beit Jala, who were named by Israel.