Newly released Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit smartly saluted his commander in chief Tuesday after he set foot on Israeli soil for the first time in five years. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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“Hello Gilad,” smiling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “Welcome back to Israel. It’s so good to have you home.”
Looking gaunt but dressed in an Israeli uniform, Shalit embraced Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak before departing with his family for their hometown, Mitzpe Hila.
A pasta dinner and his own bed awaited Shalit, who has been held prisoner by Hamas militants since 2006.
“Gilad spoke very quietly and said he was tired and wanted to go to sleep,” his grandfather Zvi Shalit said.
Crowds of flag-waving Israelis lined the route, which was covered in spots with white rose petals.
Israeli media reported that Shalit, who appeared pale and seemed to have trouble breathing, felt queasy on the flight out of Egypt – and was accompanied by a medical team on the last leg of his trip home.
Moments after he was released, Shalit called his parents and gave a brief interview on Egyptian television.
“They were long years,” the 25-year-old soldier said. “But I always thought the day would come when I finally got out of captivity.”
“I missed my family a lot and missed my friends,” Shalit added. “I missed seeing people and talking to them.”
In closing, Shalit said, “I hope this deal will help the Israeli and Palestinian sides reach peace and strengthen cooperation.”
The Israelis agreed to surrender 1,027 prisoners – including some hard-core terrorists who murdered dozens of Israelis – in exchange for Shalit.
Once they received word that Shalit had been sprung, the Israelis began releasing the first batch of 477 Palestinian prisoners.
The remaining 550 Palestinian prisoners will be released later this year.
Netanyahu warned the Palestinians being released they would be severely punished if they returned to terrorism.
“We will continue to fight terror and every released terrorist who returns to terror will be held accountable,” he said Tuesday.
Shalit’s release was expected to trigger the freedom of Queens law student Ilan Grapel, who has been held in an Egyptian jail since June on suspicion of spying.
Grapel, 27, would be exchange for 70 Egyptians currently being held in Israel, an Egyptian security official told The Associated Press.
A student at Emory Law School in Atlanta and a former Israeli soldier, Grapel was working as a summer intern for a legal aid group in Cairo when he was arrested on espionage charges that his family says are bogus.
“After the Shalit deal is done, there will be an arrangement to swap Grapel for a number of Egyptian prisoners in Israeli prisons,” a source with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters.
Grapel’s mother, Irene Grapel sounded optimistic her son would soon be released.
“I’m just taking it minute by minute, as I have been for the past four and a half \[months\],” she told the Daily News at her home in Oakland Gardens, Queens.
“We are still waiting on word from the State Department.”
She said her husband was traveling today “to another location” to hopefully be reunited with their son, but would not elaborate.
Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Queens, Nassau) has been working back channels to secure freedom for Grapel, who was once an intern in his office, State Department officials said.
