The head of the Ministry of Defense’s Political-Military Bureau, Maj. Gen. (reserves) Amos Gilad, noted in an interview yesterday that the notion proposed by the parents of captured soldier Gilad Shalit that the Hamas terrorist organization will use any “opening” of the crossings into Gaza to smuggle Shalit out of the area is fallacious. “If they wanted to move him out of Gaza, they could have used the existing tunnels” said Gilad. He added that if Hamas were to smuggle him into Egypt, the Egyptian intelligence and security forces would likely find Shalit and return him to Israel.
Gilad met with Noam Shalit, Gilad’s father, yesterday to update him on the state of the negotiations for his captured son’s release from terrorist captivity. A previous motion by the Shalit family has lead the Supreme Court to rule that all crossings to Gaza must remain closed until 12:00 Tuesday; this ruling contradicts the cease-fire agreement in effect between Israel and Hamas, which would have dictated those crossings be opened on Tuesday if the ceasefire terms are continuously met.