Shalit back in Israel after swap

18 October 2011 Last updated at 05:15 ET

Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has arrived back in Israel, following his release from five years’ captivity as part of a prisoner deal with Hamas.

Sgt Shalit was first taken from Gaza to Egypt, where he was released to Israeli officials and later taken home.

More than 1,000 Palestinians are due to be freed in the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. The first 477 are being released on Tuesday.

Sgt Shalit was seized in 2006 by Hamas militants who tunnelled into Israel.

Early on Tuesday Gilad Shalit, 25, was taken to the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, to be handed over to Egypt in the presence of Israeli representatives.

Israeli Defence Forces later confirmed he was alive and well.

Egyptian TV showed footage of Sgt Shalit being escorted from a vehicle in Egypt. It was the first time he had appeared in a video since 2009.

Earlier, sources told the BBC that Hamas guards were still with Sgt Shalit, and would only withdraw when all the Palestinian prisoners to be released had left Israel.

Sgt Shalit was then transferred to the Kerem Shalom crossing between Egypt and Israel.

He made a phone call to his parents before being flown to the Tel Nof airbase. There he is to have medical checks and meet members of his family, as well as Mr Netanyahu.

If he is fit, Sgt Shalit will then be flown with his family to northern Israel and escorted by a convoy to his home town of Mitzpe Hila, in the western Galilee.

Meanwhile, the first Palestinian prisoners destined for Gaza or exile abroad have been crossing into Egypt from Kerem Shalom, a 10-minute drive from Rafah.

They had left a prison in the south of Israel, while a smaller group left another in the centre of the country – both under heavy security.

Another 550 are scheduled to be released next month.

Another prison

Celebrations have begun in Gaza, as Hamas prepares a hero’s welcome for 295 prisoners due to be sent to the territory.

The BBC’s Yolande Knell at Rafah crossing from Egypt says relatives of those to be freed have been waiting there overnight.

One man said he was “very happy” his cousin would be let out after more than 30 years but “very angry” that he was being moved to Gaza which is under an Israeli blockade.

He said: “They will come from one prison to another prison.”

Some of the Palestinians released will be flown to host countries including Turkey, Syria or Qatar.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has prepared new passports for those being deported to third countries, which it has given to the Egyptian ambassador to the Palestinian territories.

Prisoners being released into the West Bank have been taken to the Bituniya checkpoint, where they to be handed over to the PA.

Sgt Shalit was a 19-year-old tank crewman when he was captured in June 2006. His family lived in a protest tent in Jerusalem for 16 months while they campaigned for his release.

BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen says Israelis who send their children to the country’s conscript army identify strongly with the Shalit family’s pain.

However, our correspondent adds, Israel has paid a high price for Sgt Shalit’s freedom. Many of the Palestinians being released were serving life for killing Israelis with bombs and bullets.

“I understand the difficulty in accepting that the vile people who committed the heinous crimes against r loved ones will not pay the full price they deserve,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote in a letter, released by his office, to bereaved Israeli families.

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