Last update - 00:00 17/12/2007
Report: Jihad site claims Shalit appeared hurt during kidnap
By Haaretz Service
The Islamic Jihad's Web site on Sunday published the first witness account of the abduction of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, a year and a half after the soldier was seized, Army Radio reported.
The witness, a Palestinian resident of the southern Gaza Strip, was quoted on Islamic Jihad's Web site as saying that when he saw Gilad Shalit, the soldier looked almost unconscious and was covered with visible wounds.
"I heard gun shots and explosions that shook the Israeli base near Kerem Shalom, east of Rafah," the witness said.
Army Radio reported that the witness maintained he thought at the time that the blasts were coming from Palestinian militants shooting mortar shells at western Israel.
The witness said he then left his house towards the militants, where he saw three armed men in army uniforms, grasping a wounded soldier. The witness said he rushed over to the group in order to help.
He said that the soldier looked wounded and almost unconscious, with blood stains and burns on his face, hands, and parts of his upper body.
"The militants prevented me from coming closer to the soldier and give him water, and they ordered me to move away from the area," the witness said.
No official Israeli reaction has been made to the new Palestinian testimony.
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