The family of kidnapped IDF Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit will gather with friends at the soldier's home in his upper Galilee community of Mitzpeh Hila Thursday night to mark his 22nd birthday.
It will be the third year he is spending the date in the hands of Hamas terrorists in Gaza, who kidnapped him on June 25, 2006 at an IDF outpost near the Kerem Shalom Crossing on the Israel side of the separation barrier.