On This Day in Jewish History: October 18, 2011
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#onthisday, 2011, Gilad Shalit was released and sent back to Israel. Gilad Shalit, a former MIA soldier of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was, on 25 June 2006, captured by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid via tunnels near the Israeli border.
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The Israeli government exchanged Shalit for 1,027 prisoners – that were mainly Palestinians, Ukrainian, Jordanian and Syrian. Two-hundred and eighty of these had been sentenced to life in prison for planning and perpetrating various attacks against Israeli citizens.
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This agreement is the largest prisoner exchange agreement Israel has ever made and the highest price Israel has ever paid for a single soldier. Gilad Shalit was also the first captured Israeli soldier to be released alive in 26 years.
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The agreement is implemented in two stages:
In the first stage, Gilad Shalit was transferred from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and from there to Israel; concurrently, Israel released 477 prisoners.
In the second stage, which took place two months later, another 550 prisoners were released.
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According to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, 79% of the Israeli people supported the exchange,with 14% of the population opposed.
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Hamas held him captive for over five years, until his release on 18 October 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange deal.
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Text Source:
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/gilad-shalit
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