Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are to meet the families later Wednesday when the bereaved will bid farewell to their beloved ones. Funerals have been scheduled for Thursday.

The sorrow marked a sharp contrast with the joyous atmosphere among Hezbollah supporters, as the return of Kuntar, who was sentenced to life plus 40 years in prison for murdering three family members and a police officer in Nahariya in 1979, and the four militants is seen as a big victory for the militant group.

TV footage showed that the five returnees received a red-carpet welcome at the Lebanese side, and a large event is being staged in Beirut to celebrate their release.

"I pity the people that are celebrating at this time the release of an animal that crushed the skull of a little girl of four," said Olmert, referring to Kuntar.

HOPE VS DANGER

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the execution of the swap deal, saying that he hoped that it was the first of many more.

As for Israelis, the next similar case is to secure the return of reservist Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped two years ago by three Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas and believed to be still alive.

Israel and Hamas had been negotiating over Shalit's release for months through the middleman Egypt, and a ceasefire deal reached between the two sides last month called for more efforts to advance the talks.

However, the Gaza Strip ruler, which demanded Israel release hundreds of Palestinians in exchange for Shalit, announced earlier Wednesday that it had halted the Shalit talks because Israel did not commit itself to the ceasefire in Gaza.