IDF soldier Gilad Shalit returned to Israel Tuesday morning after five years of captivity in the Gaza Strip, apparently healthy but gaunt and frail-looking. His release by Hamas was part of a prisoner swap that ultimately will include the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. 477 prisoners were freed on Tuesday, after Shalit was returned to Israel.Hamas's leader in the Gaza Strip says the militant group has officially turned over captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to Egypt as part of a prisoner swap with Israel.
"Gilad Shalit has returned to his country, his homeland and his family. For over five years we have been . . . with Gilad Shalit. Today, Gilad Shalit is with us," said Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, an Israeli army spokesman.
Shalit was taken by Hamas militants from Gaza into Egypt, then handed over to Israeli officials and taken across the border. He was given a medical examination and then a chance to speak to relatives by telephone. Shalit was flown by military helicopter to Tel Nof air force base, where he was reunited with his family just after 1 p.m. local time.
He saluted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who embraced him. Netanyahu told Shalit, "How good that you have returned home."
Netanyahu told reporters that Israel had paid a "heavy price" to obatain Shalit's release. Netanyahu said, "On this day, all of us are united in happiness and pain"
While Israeli officials offered a subdued homecoming ceremony for Shalit, Hamas leaders organized a jubilant reception for their comrades. The first busloads of released Paleos, crossed the border into Egypt around the same time Shalit was brought over to the Israelis. The Palestinians were taken to Gaza and the West Bank, where triumphant crowds awaited them.
Buses transporting the freed prisoners arrived in Gaza around midday. Crowds of Hamas militants, including some of the men who kidnapped Shalit in 2006, were among the well-wishers.
In the West Bank, Palestinian youths briefly fought Israeli troops after a misunderstanding about where the prisoners would be dropped off. Relatives had been expecting the freed inmates to arrive at the Bitunyah crossing, but they were instead taken to the Mukatah, the headquarters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's government in Ramallah.
Hamas leaders have portrayed the swap as a failure for Israel and have said it will embolden the struggle to end what it calls the occupation of Palestinian land. Israeli leaders said they got the best deal they could.
Shalit's father appeared Monday before the Israeli Supreme Court, where he faced relatives of terror victims who oppose the deal. Several motions were filed urging the court to annul the deal, and some angrily confronted the father. Shalit submitted a written response to the objections. The court rejected the appeals late Monday night.