On June 25, 2006, a group of “Hamas” fighters entered Israel through a 300-meter long tunnel from the Gaza Strip. One of their surprise attacks targeted the crew of an Israeli tank. After blowing up the door of the tank with a grenade launcher, they captured one of the soldiers of the crew. Two other soldiers were killed in the attack, and another was seriously injured. Together with the captured person – Corporal Gilad Shalit – the terrorists returned to the Gaza Strip through the tunnel.
It took five years and four months for Israel to recover its soldier. Scarce information was received about Shalit’s state of health and proof of life, access to him was also denied to representatives of the Red Cross. Over the course of five years, the only evidence of Shalit’s condition was one audio recording, one video and three letters. After enormous efforts and long negotiations, in which Germany and Egypt were mediators, Shalit was exchanged in 2011 for 1,027 Palestinians who were in Israeli prisons for various crimes. The total number of murders committed by the Palestinians exchanged to Gaza was 569. This was a high price to pay for the recovery of a single soldier, for which the Israeli government was also heavily criticized by the people of its own country. 280 of the released Palestinians were sentenced to life imprisonment for carrying out terrorist attacks – bombing cafes, restaurants, universities, attacks on public buses and other crimes. It was a high price Israel was willing to pay for the recovery of one soldier. Gilad Shalit was not the first Israeli soldier captured by Hamas, but he was the first that Israel managed to recover alive.
2023-11-27 22:03:00
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