As Israel came to a somber pause on Tuesday to honor the country's tens of thousands of fallen soldiers, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin vowed to continue ongoing efforts to return the bodies of IDF troops who went missing in previous battles.
"I commit myself to continue the work to bring back our MIAs and our prisoners of war, just as we did with Zachary Baumel," the prime minister declared, addressing an audience of high-level officials and bereaved relatives ahead of the start of Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism.
Baumel's body was returned to Israel last month in a Russian-assisted operation nearly four decades after he was declared missing during the First Lebanon War in 1982.
"In this way, the State of Israel kept its promise to every mother and father in Israel, the obligation to bring home the men and women who did not return from battle," Rivlin said, also pointing to the return of Baumel speaking at the official state ceremony, minutes after the moments silence for the fallen soldiers.
"This is a commitment that we continue to make to the families of every one of the missing soldiers of the IDF and those fallen soldiers whose place of burial is unknown," the president continued.
"We will not cease until they have all been brought back," he ended.
As the state ceremony was taking place, simultaneous candle-lighting ceremonies were held in schools and public institutions across Israel.
"Today we are bending our heads and paying respects to 23,741 fallen dead in the battles of Israel: Jews, Druze, Muslims, Christians, [and] Bedouin," Netanyahu continued.
"To them we add the thousands of victims of hostilities including four innocent civilians killed at the beginning of this week because of the rocket of the terrorists from Gaza," he said, referring to a recent spike in violence that saw over 650 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory over a period of two days.
"Their memory is etched in our soul, due to them our state can exist, without them where would we have been today."
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi praised the courage demonstrated by Israeli soldiers and said that the army was doing "everything" in its capability "to prevent future casualties."
"There is no consolation, but there is meaning," he said.
"Seventy-five years ago we were dust on the face of the earth, today we are rising global power and since the beginning of the revival in our own land every generation stands against our enemies," Netanyahu said, encouraging those who a grieving to find solace "in what we do have."
"We do not wish for war but the willingness to sacrifice is the guarantee to our fate," he ended.
This article was originally published by i24NEWS. Read more at https://www.i24news.tv/en.
