Ha'aretz

November 12, 2000

Reuters

Lebanese paper: Captured Israeli soldier likely died from wounds

At least one of the Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas on the Lebanese-Israeli border last month was badly injured and likely died within half an hour unless he received treatment, a Lebanese newspaper yesterday quoted UN sources as saying.

The English-language Daily Star quoted a UN Interim Force (UNIFIL) source as saying the amount of blood found in one of the two cars used to transfer the soldiers after the ambush was considerable.

The unnamed source told the paper that if the amount was from one person, then he would have been in critical condition and would have needed treatment in less than half an hour. If the blood was from two people, they must both have been seriously wounded, he said.

Israel said that blood samples from the scene showed that all three soldiers were wounded during the kidnapping which occurred on October 7 in the disputed Sheba'a Farm on the border, but their precise medical condition could not be decided.

Hezbollah guerrillas bundled the three soldiers into the back of a white Nissan and a black Range Rover which were later abandoned and found by UNIFIL troops. The UN source said the Range Rover was soaked with pools of blood.