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Israeli security sources: Not enough intel to free Shalit
By Amos Harel, Yuval Azoulay and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: Gabi Ashkenazi, Gilad Shalit 

Security sources said Monday that Israel has only partial intelligence regarding the location where abducted soldier Gilad Shalit is being held captive.

The clarification came after Israel Defense Forces chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi told a group of new armored and engineering corps recruits at the induction center in Tel Hashomer earlier that day that Israel knows Shalit is alive and where he is being held.

Israel is "making every effort at all levels to return Gilad Shalit. We know he is alive, and we know where he is being held and by whom, and I hope we will bring about an end to this affair," the IDF chief said.
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Ashkenazi met the brand-new soldiers just after their induction, and made the comment after one new soldier stood up and asked: "What about Gilad Shalit? What will the IDF do when we go out to the front lines, and what will the state do in order to return a hostage alive or dead?"

The chief of staff responded: "Gilad Shalit has been held hostage for over two years, and we must return him and make every effort on this matter. We sent him on a mission two years ago, and we must bring him home and make every effort."

Ashkenazi added that the recent swap with the Hezbollah when the bodies of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were returned was the result of the IDF's responsibility for its soldiers.

The IDF spokesman said however, that the remark reflected no new information, and just reiterated that Israel knows Shalit is being held by Hamas in Gaza.

Sami Abu Zuhari, the Hamas spokesman in Gaza, called Ashkenazi's remarks "nonsense."

The spokesman of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said that Gilad Shalit would not be freed unless Israel agrees to a prisoner exchange in accordance with all the demands of the Palestinian organizations.

PFLP spokesman Abu Mujahed said that the IDF had failed in all its attempts to obtain information regarding the captive soldier. Abu Mujahed said that "Israel has tried to obtain information in more than one path. Ashkenazi knows very well that Shalit will see the light of day only within the framework of a respectable prisoner exchange."

Ashkenazi also told the recruits during his visit: "You are joining the IDF in a period filled with challenges in the north and in the south, and I think that during your service you will be exposed to some of them.

"We will continue to fight over every young man or woman who enlists in the IDF, since without the willingness of Israeli youth who lives and grew up here to enlist, it will be hard for us to defend the country, and I am happy people understand this," said Ashkenazi.

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      1.   To Tell You The Truth... 09:23  |  Yosemite 05/08/08
      2.   You have to Pay 09:35  |  Truth Seeker 05/08/08
      3.   GO GET HIM IF YOU DARE TO DO IT 09:37  |  indrajaya 05/08/08
      4.   Plenty of information on who is responsible if anything happens 10:15  |  PETER SM 05/08/08
      5.   the swap with hezbolla went ahead because of idf 11:16  |  paulo2005 05/08/08
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      9.   not enough intel to rescue means you *don`t* know location. 18:08  |  frenz 05/08/08
      10.   If 2 were dead we may assume the third 3 rd is dead RIGHT ??? 18:25  |  M. S. 05/08/08
      11.   # 10, M.S. 18:52  |  indrajaya 05/08/08
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