Hamas frees Israel`s Gilad Shalit in prisoner swap
Baku, October 18 (AZERTAC). Gilad Shalit walked into Israel a free man after more than five years in Hamas captivity on Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Israeli television showed him in the company of IDF soldiers minutes after the announcement, sparking joy in Israel, according to CNN.
Shalit spoke to Egyptian television after his release, saying he had missed his family and friends.
"I missed interacting with normal people," he said in the emotional interview, where he appeared pale, tired, tense, and sometimes out of breath although he was seated in a chair.
Israel is releasing more than 1,000 prisoners in exchange for Shalit.
"I hope this deal will lead to cooperation between the Israeli side and the Palestinian side," he told Shahira Amin of Egyptian TV.
The interview came shortly after Egyptian television showed a short clip of Shalit walking unaided with an escort of about half a dozen people. He looked thin and dazed, wearing a dark baseball cap and collared shirt.
He will be with his family "in a short while," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Shalit`s parents earlier Tuesday.
Shalit is coming via Egypt because it acted as a mediator between Israel and Hamas, which do not have relations.
Shalit`s father told Israeli television earlier it was the happiest day of his life.
Israel freed 477 Palestinian inmates from Israeli jails shortly before Shalit was released, the first group of a batch of more than 1,000 Palestinians being swapped for Shalit`s freedom.
Freed prisoners praised Egypt`s role as a mediator in interviews on Palestinian television after they were released.
Some are being sent to the West Bank and others to Gaza, while just under half are being sent abroad. A handful are going to homes Jerusalem, elsewhere in Israel or to Jordan.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is set to receive some of them personally at his compound in the West Bank, while Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya came to the Rafah border crossing to welcome those crossing into Gaza.
Israel handed the freed inmates, many of who were serving long sentences for involvement in killing Israelis, to the Red Cross at the Egyptian border, according to Sivan Weitzman, spokeswoman for Israel`s prison authority.
Hundreds of Palestinian family members turned out in Gaza and the West Bank to welcome their relatives, with some waving Hamas or Palestinian flags.
Ahmed Qawasmi, 80, is awaiting the release of his son Amer, who was arrested when he was 17 and has been in jail 24 years.
"I am very very happy for the release of my son Amer," he said, adding: "The celebrations and happiness won`t be complete until all Palestinian prisoners are free from Israeli prisons."
Nabil Hamouz, 21, told CNN he was waiting for the release of his mother Hanan, 42, who has served one year of a two-and-a-half year sentence for trying to stab an Israeli soldier.
"I am very happy and can`t wait to hug my mother again," he said, weeping tears of joy.
Longtime Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erakat conceded Tuesday that the Islamist group Hamas had succeeded in getting the prisoners released when the secular nationalist Fatah, to which he and Abbas belong, had not.
Israeli radio reported that more than 1,000 police officers were deployed to ensure public order and the safety of the convoys.
The Israel Defense Forces have declared areas connected to the handover to be closed military zones, barring the public from entering.
Palestinians celebrated the release of the inmates Tuesday.
"This is a great day that (has) brought happiness to all Palestinian people," said Hassan Mousa, a Hamas leader in the West Bank. "It has unified the Palestinian people together. It will free people who have been in Israeli jails more than 34 years and more that 30 years, and many more with high sentences and will free the women and children alike."
Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls Gaza, agreed last week to a two-stage release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including hundreds serving life sentences for attacks on Israelis.
The second stage is scheduled to take place later this year.
Late Monday, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected appeals by the families of Israeli terror victims against the release of prisoners in exchange for Shalit.
Prisoner swap deal stirs up debate
The Israeli public overwhelmingly supports the swap for Shalit, an Israeli army sergeant who was abducted in a raid in 2006, when he was a 19-year-old corporal.
He has been held by Hamas since then, with no known contact from the outside world except a letter from his parents passed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal.
About eight out of 10 Israelis favor the deal, according to the poll of 500 people conducted by the Dahaf Polling Institute for the Yedioth Aharonoth newspaper.
Israelis are equally split on whether "the release of terrorists" will harm Israeli security, with 50% saying "yes" and 48% saying "no" -- a statistical tie given the number of people polled.
The most notable Palestinian prisoner not being released in the deal is jailed lawmaker Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences. He was convicted in an Israeli court of murder and other charges related to his role in planning attacks on Israelis during the second Intifada.
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