Israeli soldier freed in swap for 1,000 prisoners
TEL NOF AIR BASE, Israel — Looking thin, weary and dazed, Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit emerged Tuesday from more than five years in captivity, surrounded by Hamas militants with black face masks who handed him over to Egyptian mediators in an exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli officials said Schalit showed signs of malnutrition and his father said he needed time to recover from psychological and physical wounds.
More than 450 Palestinians were transferred from Israeli prisons to the West Bank and Gaza, where massive celebratory rallies festooned with green Hamas flags were held. In Gaza City, tens of thousands crammed into an open lot where a huge stage was set up, decorated with a mural depicting Schalit’s capture in a June 2006 raid on an army base near the Gaza border. The crowd exhorted militants to seize more soldiers for future swaps.
The rest of the prisoners — about 550 more — are to be released in a second phase in two months.