JERUSALEM, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Wednesday that the two Israeli soldiers captured by Lebanese Hezbollah in July were seriously injured in the battle, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported.

    The IDF noted in a report that one of the soldiers was critically injured and the other sustained serious wounds during the kidnapping operation on July 12.

    The abduction of the two Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev by Lebanon's Shiite group Hezbollah ignited the 34-day-long Israel-Lebanon conflict three days later.

    The conflict ended on Aug. 14 under the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which called for Israel's complete pullout from Lebanon in tandem with the deployment of Lebanese army troops and additional UN peacekeepers.

    Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth also reported that a comprehensive examination conducted by medical and criminal identification crews at the site of the kidnapping, the IDF concluded that one of the troops apparently sustained more serious wounds than the other as he lost more blood.

    The report does not determine whether the two soldiers died during the kidnapping or are still alive.