In some respects, Wednesday’s exchange closed a final chapter of the 2006 war. But far from ameliorating the simmering hostility between the sides, the deal has further hardened the feelings of many Israelis who charged that Hezbollah toyed with the emotions of the families of the missing soldiers up to the very end.

Image Israel took the bodies of the soldiers at Rosh Hanikra. Credit... The New York Times

For the last two years, Hezbollah had refused to clarify whether the soldiers  both reservists and students at the time of their capture  were dead or alive, although Israeli officials concluded that both were badly wounded in the ambush and most likely had not survived.

But the moment of truth came only after 9 a.m. on Wednesday as the first stage of the exchange got under way at Nakkoura, on the Lebanese side of the border. A Hezbollah representative, Wafiq Safa, announced that the soldiers’ fate would “now be revealed” and gestured toward the two coffins.

After the coffins were transferred to the Israeli side of the border, it took several hours for the military authorities to positively identify the soldiers’ remains and to inform the bereaved families who were waiting in their homes. Then, about 5 p.m., Mr. Kuntar and the other prisoners were taken across the border.

Although Israel has a history of trading large numbers of prisoners to obtain the release of captured soldiers, the deal with Hezbollah has stirred an especially painful debate, with some feeling the price was too high.