Word: shalit
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire in June. Israel wants the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, and is extremely wary of becoming embroiled in a military operation in Gaza with no clear exit strategy. Hamas needed the truce to relieve the catastrophic economic strain on Palestinians imposed by the Israeli siege and to consolidate its control over Gaza. And so, for very different reasons, the two sides found themselves negotiating - not directly, because neither side recognizes the other - but through an Egyptian mediator. But in the past few weeks, the cease-fire has all but broken...
...This was a must. We had to destroy the tunnel," one Israeli official told TIME. "Hamas was going to use it to try kidnapping more Israeli soldiers." Corporal Gilad Shalit, captured by Palestinian militants in June 2006 during a cross-border raid, is still being held in Gaza, and Hamas is hoping to trade him for hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails. The last thing the Israeli army wants is for Hamas to grab another hostage...
...Furious settlers later released a statement condemning the Israeli security forces. "We hope they will be defeated by their enemies, that they will all be [kidnapped IDF soldier] Gilad Shalit, that they will all be killed and all slaughtered because this is what they deserve," it read. Settler wrath was also aimed at Washington. Commenting on the arrival of the U.S.-sponsored Palestinian security forces in Hebron, settler leader Baruch Marzel told TIME: "It's like asking Bin Laden's men to come protect Manhattan." He added: "They're terrorists. We'll shoot them if they come near our houses...
...between Israel and Hizballah that summer. Hizballah captured the soldiers with the intention of using them as bargaining chips for Kuntar's release and is citing the deal as proof of the group's regional influence. Israel is still trying to negotiate with Hamas to win back Gilad Shalit, who is believed to be alive. Shalit is the third soldier at the center of a fierce national debate over the balance between security and Israel's commitment to retrieving those captured in the field...
...next phase, Israel and Hamas will start indirect talks, through the Egyptians, to trade captured Israeli soldier Corporal Gilad Shalit for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Once Shalit is freed, says Israeli negotiator Amos Gilad, Israel will then agree to allow the reopening of Rafah, the main crossing between Gaza and Egypt, as long as it is manned by European Union monitors. Egypt will also undertake the near-impossible task of stopping arms from being smuggled into Gaza; Israelis are worried, with good reason, that Hamas will use the truce to rearm itself with longer-range and more accurate missiles...