Israel on Thursday prepared to bury two dead soldiers, a day after the nation exchanged prisoners with Hezbollah, reported CNN.
In Beirut on Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah led thousands in welcoming home five Lebanese militants released by Israel. In contrast to celebrations in Lebanon, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert led Israelis in mourning the two soldiers whose bodies were returned as part of the exchange.
Ehud Goldwasser's funeral was expected to begin Thursday morning local time. Services for Eldad Regev were expected later in the day.
Goldwasser's funeral will be in Nahariya and Regev's in Kryat Motzkin.
Once in Beirut on Wednesday, convicted murderer Samir Kuntar -- who was the longest-held Lebanese prisoner in Israel -- told a crowd of thousands he would continue to fight for the liberation of the Palestinian territories.
"I return today from Palestine, but believe me, I return to Lebanon only in order to return to Palestine," Kuntar said.
Kuntar and the other four were released by Israel and crossed into southern Lebanon to cheers. They then were flown to Beirut, where Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called them "our dear liberated heroes."
The other four are Lebanese militants captured during the Hezbollah-Israel war two years ago. Israel on Wednesday also released the remains of 199 fighters from Lebanon.
Earlier Wednesday, Hezbollah released to Israel the bodies of Goldwasser and Regev.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, making his first public appearance since September 2006, also greeted the five militants before cheering throngs of thousands of Hezbollah supporters in Beirut.
"I'm here to congratulate all of you," Nasrallah said. "As we said in the year 2000, the time of defeat is done and now it is a time of victories." Because of security concerns, Nasrallah typically does not appear in public.
Suleiman said Lebanon "feels very proud as we welcome back the heroic resistance fighters who were released from the Israeli occupation."
Kuntar is widely reviled in Israel, where Olmert denounced the celebrations in Lebanon.
"Woe to the nation that celebrates in these hours the release of a bestial person who smashed the head of a 4-year-old child," Olmert said in a statement.
A member of the Palestine Liberation Front, Kuntar led a group of four men who entered Israel from Lebanon by boat in 1979. They killed a police officer who came across them. Then they took a 28-year-old man and his 4-year-old daughter hostage.
Kuntar shot the father dead at close range in front of his daughter and tossed his body in the sea. He then smashed the girl's head, killing her. In addition, a 2-year-old girl from the same family suffocated as her mother tried to stop her from crying while they hid during the violence.
Kuntar was sentenced to 542 years in prison.
Israel refused to release him during a previous prisoner exchange. Because of the stiff sentence for Kuntar, Lebanese reports indicate that the news of his release stunned many people.
Also as part of Wednesday's exchange, the Israel Defense Forces said, "Hezbollah has just relayed a coffin containing body parts of IDF soldiers who were killed in the Second Lebanon War," a reference to the 2006 conflict.
These are separate from the remains of Regev and Goldwasser, whose bodies were said to be in "poor condition" when they were returned to Israel.
Another element of the swap was a report by Hezbollah on the status of Ron Arad, a long-missing Israeli navigator.
Israel was displeased with the report but didn't provide details on why officials considered it deficient. Despite Olmert's calling the report "absolutely unsatisfactory," the Israeli Cabinet approved the swap in a 22-3 vote Tuesday.
Coffins bearing the remains of the 199 fighters were being trucked from Israel into Lebanon on Wednesday, and funerals for them are scheduled for Thursday.