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Abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. (Archives)
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Last update - 23:29 25/06/2007
Shalit's father expresses hope Hamas is willing to negotiate
By Avi Issacharoff and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and News Agencies

Hours after Hamas released an audio message purportedly from Gilad Shalit, the father of the Israel Defense Forces soldier issued a response on the first concrete sign of life of his son since his abduction a year ago.

Addressing the press from his home in Mitzpeh Hila, Noam Shalit said the tape appears to be authentic, although the content was "obviously dictated by his captors."

"We hope this is a sign that Hamas is genuinely interested in making progress on a deal, and not just a spin ... to divert attention back to Gaza," added Shalit.
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Shalit said that, if Hamas is genuinely interested in talks, he expects Israel to take the necessary steps to make a deal. "It has been a year," he said. "I think that is enough."

In a recording posted on a Hamas Web site, the voice identified as Shalit said he was disappointed over the Israeli government's lack of interest in his fate.

Shalit added that his health was deteriorating, and that he would need to be hospitalized for a long period of time.

"I am Gilad, son of Noam Shalit, prisoner of the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Kataib [Brigades]," the message began, using the Arabic word for brigades - strengthening suspicions he was reading a dictated statement.

"Mom and Dad, brother and sister, my friends in the IDF - I send my love and miss you all dearly. It has been a year since I was captured, and my health is deteriorating. I am in need of prolonged hospitalization.

"I am sorry for the Israeli government's and IDF's lack of interest in me and their rejection of the demands of Izz el-Din al-Qassam [the Hamas armed wing]. It is clear that they must accept their demands if they want me to be released from prison, especially since I was part of a military operation under military instruction and not a drug dealer.

"And just as I have a mother and father, the thousands of Palestinian prisoners also have mothers and fathers - and their children must be returned to them. I have great confidence in my government that they will focus more on my issue and accept the demands of my captors."

Militants: 'He is in good health'
The release of the tape on Israel's Channel 2 television followed an announcement by a Popular Resistance Committees' spokesman that there would be a "positive surprise" regarding Shalit on Monday, exactly a year after his abduction.

The Popular Resistance Committees is one of three Hamas-linked groups that captured Shalit.

"Shalit is alive and in very good shape," Abu Mujahid said, "His health is good and he's stable. We are treating him according to our religion's instructions on how to deal with war prisoners." Abu Mujahid also said that Shalit does not need anything and was receiving good treatment.

Shalit, 20, was kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen in a cross-border raid into Israel from the Gaza Strip on June 25, 2006. Prior to Monday, he had not been seen or heard from since he was captured.

The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem declared on Monday, the one-year anniversary of the abduction of Shalit, that holding him hostage was a war crime and that he must be immediately released.

The organization, which mainly works to protect the human rights of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, emphasized in a press release that those involved in the kidnapping bear individual criminal liability for the war crime.

B'Tselem said: "The circumstances of his capture and the behavior of his captors clearly indicate that he is a hostage."

International humanitarian law absolutely prohibits "the taking and holding of a person by force in order to compel the enemy to meet certain demands, while threatening to harm or kill that person if the demands are not met," the organization stated.

B'Tselem said that the Hamas leadership has to work for Shalit's immediate release, and without conditions. Hamas currently controls the entire security apparatus in the Gaza Strip after ousting Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah over a week ago.

Until the soldier's release, B'Tselem said, his captors have to treat him humanely and grant Red Cross representatives access to him. The organization noted that the prevention of Red Cross' visits is a "flagrant violation of international law."

At a ceremony near the Knesset to mark Shalit's abduction Sunday, his father Noam called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to secure his son's release or step down.

Meanwhile, two other human rights groups criticized Shalit's abductors.

Doctors for Human Rights called on Hamas to immediately provide Shalit with proper medical treatment.

"Denying him treatment is a serious breach of the Geneva Convention and of medical and human rights ethics. One cannot deny medical treatment from those in need because of negotiations and secrecy," it said.

Almagor Terror Victims Association said the recording's release was a "cynical attempt" to exploit the media and influence public opinion and the government to free terrorists.

"Releasing the recording, its timing and content, show terror organizations have thoroughly learnt the weak spots of Israeli society, which runs the risk of a downwards slope of terror attacks and kidnappings if it accepts the despicable blackmail," it said.


Report: Gilad Shalit held in booby-trapped Gaza building
Channel 2 television reported Sunday that Gilad Shalit was being held in the southern Gaza Strip in an underground room inside a booby-trapped building.

The reports said Shalit was being held near Shaboura refugee camp, close to the town of Rafah in the southern part of the coastal territory.

The report said the information had come from Hamas sources.

Israeli officials declined to comment and a militant source representing one of the three groups holding Shalit said the report was "speculation and imagination."

The television report said Shalit was being cared for by two captors with whom he had formed a "cordial" relationship and he was being treated fairly.

Shalit's living quarters were described as a two-room underground store with enough supplies to last two weeks, accessible down a ladder through a 15-meter deep shaft which the report said was lined with explosives.

It added that the captors receive supplies and newspaper cuttings every two weeks and that they had been ordered to take good care of their prisoner.

Last year, Shalit's captors refused to accept a pair of eye glasses sent by his parents because they feared they were embedded with miniature electronic devices
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  1.   Stockholm Syndrome 01:14  |  schafe82 25/06/07
  2.   Shalit 01:35  |  Shmuelshachor 25/06/07
  3.   if anything happens to shalit under any curcumstances their list 01:37  |  ralph 25/06/07
  4.   Shalit 02:15  |  Mark 25/06/07
  5.   animals. 03:03  |  Richard S 25/06/07
  6.   Trade Avram Berg for Shalit 03:40  |  Herbert Kaine 25/06/07
  7.   Outrageous 03:46  |  David 25/06/07
  8.   Shalit & Barghouti 03:48  |  * BEN JABO 25/06/07
  9.   Booby traps 03:53  |  Laura 25/06/07
  10.   BEN JABO 04:20  |  Marco 25/06/07
  11.   Shalit & Pal Prisoners 04:30  |  Hunter 25/06/07
  12.   AREST HAMAS OPERATIVES,FREE SHALIT UNCONDITIONALLY,END TERROR)))) 04:36  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 25/06/07
  13.   SHALIT 05:04  |  roland 25/06/07
  14.   WHY are the RED Cross and the UN Humanitarians not condemning? 05:07  |  PETER SM 25/06/07
  15.   Richaerd S, you are the true animal, not the captors 05:13  |  Palestinian 25/06/07
  16.   Israel should... 05:29  |  Rob 25/06/07
  17.   #10 Marco 07:06  |  * BEN JABO 25/06/07
  18.   Rob is right 07:43  |  KEN 25/06/07
  19.   #15 Palestinian 07:45  |  * BEN JABO 25/06/07
  20.   RichardS "Animals." 08:20  |  Maureen Ann 25/06/07
  21.   Where Shalit is..... 08:30  |  Esther 25/06/07
  22.   sure, the report came from a normally unreliable source - Hamas 08:31  |  redmike 25/06/07
  23.   To #19 / 15: Bin Jabo 08:32  |  Hani 25/06/07
  24.   For Richard S #5 08:41  |  Esther 25/06/07
  25.   To hell with the truth 09:27  |  Clickfool 25/06/07
  26.   Hamas is completely resposnsible 09:27  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 25/06/07
  27.   Palestinian and his captor friends are not 09:41  |  Max 25/06/07
  28.   For Esther #24 09:43  |  Hussein 25/06/07
  29.   Clickfool, you are living in never-never land..... 09:50  |  Esther 25/06/07
  30.   TO MR BIG FONT VOICE of MOSHIACH 09:51  |  samir salameh 25/06/07
  31.   Gilad Shalit being held 09:55  |  VoiceOfReason 25/06/07
  32.   News that serves the enemy 09:58  |  VoiceOfReason 25/06/07
  33.   #23 Hani 10:05  |  VoiceOfReason 25/06/07
  34.   To Samir #30 10:33  |  David 25/06/07
  35.   #15 Palestinian 10:42  |  itsik 25/06/07
  36.   B`Tselem, what took you so long? 11:18  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 25/06/07
  37.   #12 11:28  |  bill 25/06/07
  38.   #19 Ben Jabo to Palestinian 12:27  |  maoriboy 25/06/07
  39.   #25CLICKFOOL 100% CORRECT WE SHOULD NEVER TRUST A WORD HAMAS SAYS 12:31  |  Ben 25/06/07
  40.   Speaking of war crimes..... 12:34  |  Natallie Durson 25/06/07
  41.   # 35 itsik in Londonstan to Palestinian 12:46  |  maoriboy 25/06/07
  42.   Sorry, wrong! 12:46  |  Murray 25/06/07
  43.   MAORIBOY"Facility 139" a tale from the Guardian 12:55  |  PETER SM 25/06/07
  44.   Maoriboy: That dude 12:59  |  The Byrd 25/06/07
  45.   itsik..max..ben jabo 13:09  |  ravi 25/06/07
  46.   #41 All black 13:32  |  itsik 25/06/07
  47.   Maoriboy #38 Secret Jails 13:35  |  FOX 25/06/07
  48.   B`tselem wake up! Palestinians never give prisoners human rights 13:37  |  Nannette 25/06/07
  49.   #43 Peter SM 13:41  |  maoriboy 25/06/07
  50.   we should never treat Palestinian prisoners so poorly 13:41  |  Michelle 25/06/07
  51.   #44 The Byrd 13:47  |  itsik 25/06/07
  52.   Shalit 14:03  |  Chris Linthwaite 25/06/07
  53.   #47 Fox 14:41  |  maoriboy 25/06/07
  54.   #53 Maori boy 14:54  |  itsik 25/06/07
  55.   Free Shalit 15:00  |  PalesRaeli 25/06/07
  56.   In the year since Shalit was captured, the IDF has killed 67 15:04  |  Apartheid 25/06/07
  57.   #50 Michelle, there are 1000s of Palestinian prisoners 15:06  |  Ben Alofs 25/06/07
  58.   #14, PETER SM again 15:07  |  VIPER 25/06/07
  59.   #20 Maureen Ann "DIGNITY" 15:08  |  * BEN JABO 25/06/07
  60.   CUT OFF WATER, ELECTRICITY, GAS TO GAZA UNTIL HE`s RELEASED 15:12  |  don 25/06/07
  61.   #30 salami 15:12  |  * BEN JABO 25/06/07
  62.   Shalit Is A Casualty Of War 15:14  |  Dyinglikeflies 25/06/07
  63.   Schafe82 #1 15:15  |  GABE1 25/06/07
  64.   Palestinian detainees receive medical care 15:17  |  Paul Freedman 25/06/07
  65.   Crush Hamas! Destroy Hamastan 15:18  |  Bob 25/06/07
  66.   #38 Maori Boy 15:18  |  * BEN JABO 25/06/07
  67.   #56 Apartheid 15:19  |  itsik 25/06/07
  68.   Boston Leftie calling himself Apartheid 15:19  |  GZLives 25/06/07
  69.   Haaretz, the truth please! 15:19  |  Jonathan S 25/06/07
  70.   "54 itsik 15:20  |  maoriboy 25/06/07
  71.   Shalit 15:24  |  Dan 25/06/07
  72.   #50 Michelle 15:26  |  * BEN JABO 25/06/07
  73.   Who cares 15:31  |  Whats in a name 25/06/07
  74.   HaAretz jumping the gun - voice not confirmed ! 15:31  |  redmike 25/06/07
  75.   #45 Ravi 15:34  |  * BEN JABO 25/06/07
  76.   BEN JABO Of US 15:36  |  Lynn 25/06/07
  77.   Ravi - continued 15:38  |  * BEN JABO 25/06/07
  78.   ralph #3 15:38  |  d 25/06/07
  79.   #70 Maoriboy 15:39