Almost a year after IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was released from Hamas captivity, the IDF will update the captivity training it provides to soldiers in its elite units.
According to reports on Sunday, the captivity workshops provided to soldiers in combat units and to air force pilots have been updated based on information Shalit provided in a debriefing he underwent after his release in October of last year.
The changes in the workshops are being added as part of lessons the IDF has gleaned from Shalit’s captivity. Most of the information provided by Shalit has not been disclosed to the public and is still under censorship restrictions, but will be used to train other soldiers.
It should be noted that the IDF was highly impressed by the way Shalit dealt with the ordeal he went through and by his cooperation after he returned home. The IDF was also impressed with the fact that Shalit had remembered many things from his time in captivity and with the fact that he had paid attention to small details.
Israel and Hamas signed a deal last October which saw Shalit being released after more than five years in captivity in exchange for 1,026 terrorists.
Several of the terrorists who were freed in the deal have since been re-arrested after Israeli security forces gathered evidence that they have resumed terror activity.
Some have accused Israel of encouraging terrorism and further kidnappings by its willingness to free so many terrorists in exchange for one soldier.
A senior IDF official recently said that there has been an increase in attempts by terrorists who were released in the Shalit deal and sent to Gaza to promote terrorism in Judea and Samaria.