Israel denied statements made by a Lebanese minister who in a book he wrote claimed the Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were killed by an Israeli bombardment and not by Hezbollah. The two were captured by Hezbollah operatives near the Lebanese border triggering the Second Lebanon War. A statement released by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office called the claims made by Lebanese Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil in his memoirs on the Second Lebanon War stating the two were killed by an Israeli bombardment, as baseless. Khalil accused Israel of killing the two. "The two soldiers were killed by Hezbollah during an attack on their IDF patrol on July 12, 2006," the statement said." An aide of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the forensic details collected at the site of the abductions made it clear Goldwasser and Regev were seriously wounded on the spot, at least one of them fatally. The findings he said were confirmed by intelligence information and pathological examinations upon recovery of their bodies which were kept frozen by Hezbollah. The bodies of the two soldiers were returned to Israel as part of a prisoner exchange in July 2008. Right up until their bodies were returned it was unclear whether the two were alive or dead.