Aviva and Noam Shalit
Photo: Hagai Aharon
The Shalit family convened a special press conference Wednesday evening, announcing that it will soon fold its Jerusalem protest tent in the wake of the failure to secure Gilad Shalit's release.
"We understand that, to our regret, the window of opportunity has closed," he said. "On the 1,000th day after Gilad's abduction we shall be returning to our home in Mitzpe Hila disappointed and hurting, just like many Israelis."
"All we can do now is wait for a miracle," said the adducted soldier's father, Noam Shalit.
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Shalit thanked the tens of thousands of people who arrived at the family's protest tent to offer their support, saying that his wife Aviva and he are giving everyone "a big hug of gratitude."
The abducted soldier's father added: "For almost 1,000 days we allowed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Israeli government to do everything in order to bring Gilad Back. To our regret they failed – Gilad is still in Hamas captivity."
"Gilad was captured during Olmert's tenure as prime minister, and he was tasked with bringing Gilad back home. We hoped he will use his last days on the job to return our son. To our regret, we were disappointed," Noam Shalit said.
Tuesday night, the PM's Office issued an official statement, charging Hamas with toughening its positions and going back on previous understandings, thereby thwarting a prisoner swap.