Sad birthday: Send Gilad your wishes
Ynet invites readers to send videotaped birthday wishes, to be screened at Shalit protest tent
Another sad birthday: On August 28, kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit will turn 24, makring his fifth birthday in Hamas captivity.
Ynetnews invites its readers to send videotaped birthday wishes that will be screened in the family's protest tent on the eve of Gilad's birthday
Marking Gilad's 22nd birthday (Photo: AP)
During Shalit's first few years in captivity, the family marked his birthday with mass events held near Gaza's Kerem Shalom crossing and in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square. However, in the past two years, Shalit's parents opted for a more intimate gathering in their Mitzpe Hila home in northern Israel.
As his son's 24th birthday approaches, Noam Shalit told Ynet he cannot offer his son any well-wishes.
"At the moment we cannot wish him well in the awful place he is held at. We can only apologize to him for failing to bring him home even on his birthday."
Noam Shalit said that in past years the family would celebrate birthdays with a meal at a restaurant. This year, however, the Shalits will mark Gilad's birthday in their protest tent, where they have been staying for the past month and a half after marching from their home to Jerusalem in a bid to press the government to secure Gilad's release.
The Shalit family said it had not received new information on negotiations to release their son, including last week's meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top negotiator, Hagai Hadas.
"The only thing we keep hearing about is what isn't being done, and what can't be done, and what they fear doing," Shalit said.
The address for sending videos:
shalit.birthday@ynet.co.il
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