PM, kidnapped soldiers' families meet

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met Thursday with the families of the kidnapped soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, in the Kirya base in Tel Aviv.

The meeting, which was closed to the press, was apparently scheduled in a bid to ease tensions following the controversy surrounding the prime minister’s recent comments on the issue.

Following the meeting the families said that the PM agreed to refrain from making public statements regarding their condition, as well as the manner in which efforts for their return are being conducted.

The families also said that they have asked that Olmert to step-up efforts to secure their release. 

A chain of statements on the subject began at the end of last week and came to a peak Monday, during Olmert's visit to Amal High School in Nahariya.

During his visit he was asked by the students about the reasons for the ceasefire. His response was: "Assuming the soldiers are alive, this gives them a few more days in captivity; but by doing this (agreeing to the ceasefire) we have definitely spared the lives of dozens of soldiers that would have been killed in the war."

Later on Olmert took back his words and said that the assumption is that the soldiers in Lebanon are still alive.

Wednesday, the IDF's report on the kidnapped soldiers was published, saying that they were supposedly badly wounded.

Apparently, one of the soldiers was more seriously wounded than the other due to loss of blood.

The report was published following a comprehensive forensic investigation carried out by medical staffs at the site of the kidnapping. The report's findings were only recently published and the degree of injury was cleared for publication Wednesday.