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Rally for Shalit's release
Photo: Yaron Brenner
Shalit: This may be last chance to free Gilad
Family of kidnapped soldier appeals with government to include his release in any agreement to end Gaza operation
The safe return of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, "must be an overt and explicit part of any agreement" that puts an end to Operation Cast Lead, wrote the Shalit family in a letter published Saturday. They described this as the last chance to free Gilad.
In a press conference Saturday evening, Gilad's father, Noam Shalit, said that "we are facing a critical junction and a one-time window of opportunity to return Gilad, after more than two and a half years in Hamas captivity."
"We cannot imagine that the issue of freeing Gilad will not be included in any kind of deal secured vis-à-vis Hamas," he said.
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"The Shalit family has followed worriedly after the events in Gaza and is pleased with its impending end. The family expresses their fervent belief that the end of the operation would also bring about an end to Gilad's captivity, as part of the return of the IDF's and Israel's moral strength," the letter read.
Regarding a future agreement, the family wrote that "a far-reaching and comprehensive agreement following a period of fighting creates a new reality and a fateful opportunity to return Gilad. This reality needs to serve negotiators to demand – and receive – his return."
"It's been almost a thousand days and nights, during which Israel has experienced bouts of fighting and then ceasefire, without managing to secure Gilad's return," the letter added.
The family praised and thanked residents of the south and parents of soldiers, "who are bearing the burden of this conflict and still state the importance of the continuation of the fighting because the return of Gilad must be part of a ceasefire agreement."
If the state fails to utilize this opportunity to return Gilad, "Israeli society may pay a far heavier price than what has been requested in the past: This will hurt the moral fortitude and fighting spirit of the IDF in the future. Such failure would seal Gilad's fate to remain buried in Gaza, captive all his life," the family said in the letter.
Also Saturday night, at 7 p.m., friends and supporters of Gilad Shalit are scheduled to protest outside IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, prior to a cabinet meeting regarding a ceasefire, in order to appeal with decision-makers to include Shalit's release in any political agreement.
