June 25: Three Years Since Israeli Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit Kidnapped by Iran-backed Hamas
Timeline of diplomatic efforts and key statements to release abducted Israeli soldier, Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, 2006 - 2009
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| Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit |
June 25 marks three years since Iran-backed Hamas kidnapped Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit from Israel in a cross-border attack.[1] Hamas has offered few signs that the 22-year-old Israeli-French citizen is still alive, and has refused to let the Red Cross or other aid groups to visit him. Shalit was 19 when he was abducted.
He was on patrol on the Israeli side of the Kerem Shalom border-crossing on the Israel-Gaza border when seven terrorists infiltrated Israel through a tunnel originating in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. During the attack, they kidnapped Shalit, killed two other soldiers and injured four more. [2] In addition to Hamas, two other terrorist groups participated in the attack: the Popular Resistance Committees and the Army of Islam, [3] or Jaish al-Islam, an organization with a presence in Gaza that is linked to the global jihad movement. [4]
The attack and abduction occurred less than a year after Israel’s August 2005 Gaza disengagement, in which nearly 9,000 Israeli citizens left all of Gaza in hopes for peace. [5]
