Israeli UN envoy decries Hamas play mocking Gilad Shalit

Israel on Thursday voiced its outrage over a play staged by Hamas at a mass demonstration earlier this week in which members of the militant Islamic group made fun of captive Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

Shalit was abducted by militant Gaza groups, including Hamas, in a cross-border raid in June 2006, and he remains in captivity.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Professor Gabriela Shalev, took the opportunity during the monthly discussion on the Middle East to remind the Security Council members that "The soldier Gilad Shalit has been held captive by Hamas for 910 days and nights."

"As a human being and a mother," Shalev told the council, "I was horrified to learn about the display held in central Gaza to mark 21 years since the establishment of Hamas. 150,000 people gathered and cheered at a play that made a mockery out of Gilad's pain and distress, his family's agony and the sympathy of the people of Israel. I hope and expect that the international community will act tirelessly and with all its might to bring Gilad home."

During the mass Gaza rally marking Hamas' 21rst anniversary on Sunday, a Hamas activist dressed up as Gilad Shalit and begged in Hebrew for his life, asking to come home. "I miss my mother and father," he said in Hebrew, while wearing an IDF uniform.