Aviva Shalit: I hope video signals end of Gilad's captivity

Aviva Shalit, the mother of captive Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, told friends on Saturday that she hoped that a videotape showing her son alive in Hamas custody signals "the beginning of the end of his captivity."

Aviva spoke Saturday, one day after Israel obtained the video from Hamas in a deal that saw 20 female Palestinian prisoners released from an Israeli jail.

Activist Shimshon Libman on Saturday called on the "army of Gilad's friends" to enlist in the battle for his release. "We know for a fact that he is alive, that he is in Gaza, and that we must bring him home as soon as possible," he said.

However, Noam Shalit, Gilad's father, looked to quell any expectation that the release of the tape was indicative of an imminent deal for his release.

"We're concerned," Noam Shalit said, speaking outside his home Saturday in the Galilee community of Mitzpeh Hila. "Gilad looks like someone who isn't at a picnic or a convalescent home," he added.

Noam Shalit received a telephone call earlier Saturday from French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The Shalit family holds dual Israeli-French citizenship. During the phone call, Sarkozy inquired into Gilad Shalit's health.

"Our fear is that this whole affair will be dragged out over years," Noam Shalit said. "Even with the release of the videotape, there is no breakthrough and we are not on the verge of a deal [for Gilad's release]."

"The tape is not the light at the end of the tunnel, but it is an important, vital step," Noam Shalit added.

Hours after the video aired on every network in Israel, Noam Shalit told reporters on Friday that Israel must continue efforts to free his son and must remember that he is suffering in the hands of his captors.

"In spite of our impression that he [Gilad] is in relatively good condition, we cannot forget that he is suffering and rotting in Hamas prison nearly 1,200 long days and nights."

Shalit added that his family "expects this ordeal to end and for Gilad to return home very soon."

Shalit also thanked German negotiators who helped secure the release of the tape.

In the video, Shalit says that he had been reading newspapers in search of information regarding his situation.

He adds that he has been waiting a long time to be released, and expresses his love for his family. Shalit then recounts a personal anecdote from before his abduction, when his family visited him at his IDF army base.

Hamas officials tell Arab press: Shalit deal is imminent

Meanwhile, Khaled Meshal, the Damascus-based head of the Hamas political bureau, told an Egyptian newspaper earlier this week that the deal reached for the videotape was an indication that a comprehensive prisoner swap was in the offing.

According to Israel Radio, Meshal told the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram that the Israeli government under the stewardship of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dealt seriously with the Shalit matter.

The Islamist group is holding Shalit captive in hopes of using the soldier as a bargaining chip to win the release of hundreds of Palestinians who have been incarcerated in Israeli prisons for various security-related offenses.

Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, balked at Hamas' demand to release hundreds of prisoners "with blood on their hands," namely Palestinians who were involved in the planning of deadly suicide bombings in the heart of Israeli towns and cities.

Israel Radio reported that the Al-Ahram journalist interviewed Meshal earlier this week, prior to public knowledge of the videotape-for-female-prisoners swap. The contents of the interview were published by the newspaper on Saturday, according to Israel Radio.

Another senior Hamas official in Damascus told a Qatari newspaper, Al-Arab, that a prisoner swap involving Shalit will be consummated "soon."

According to Israel Radio, the official told Al-Arab that Israel will release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners - 550 of whom are affiliated with Hamas while the remainder belong to various Palestinian factions.

Nonetheless, Hamas vowed that it would continue its efforts to try and abduct Israeli soldiers in order to free more Palestinian prisoners.

"We will continue our efforts to kidnap soldiers in order to free every one of our prisoners in Israel," Meshal said in Damascus on Friday, hours after Israel received the video of Shalit from Hamas.

Meshal, whose statements came during a speech in Damascus, added "I say to Netanyahu and to the leaders of the enemy, we understand the language that you understand?We in Hamas managed to take Shalit captive and hold him for more than three years and use him as in order to mount comprehensive negotiations for the release of prisoners."

Meshal then warned, "We can take another Shalit captive, and another Shalit, and another Shalit."