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Ongoing debate on Shalit prisoner swap diverts attention from military option There is a military option in Gaza. We can issue an ultimatum to Hamas that Israel would assassinate one of its leaders in Gaza or elsewhere every day if Gilad Shalit is not released at once. We can embark on a targeted operation based on existing intelligence information, or a broad operation if we lack such accurate intelligence information. We can kill every terrorist on the way, go from one house to the next, and while we’re at it blow up Qassam rocket workshops, arms caches, and tunnels. We...

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday said that Israel’s willingness to release a blood-soaked killer like Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar in exchange for the corpses of two Israeli soldiers would significantly raise the price Jerusalem must pay for the freedom of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Israeli Opposition leader, Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu sounded spitting mad Thursday at the Olmert government’s agreeing to a ceasefire with the Gaza-controlling Hamas terrorist organization. The terrorists got a period of quiet in which to regroup and rearm in readiness for the next round of terrorist attacks, he said. In exchange, Israel “got nothing.”

(IsraelNN.com) The Israel Air Force struck terrorist groups in Gaza in three separate attacks Tuesday afternoon, killing at least six operatives, including Army of Islam second-in-command Muataz Dughmush. The head of the terrorist group, Mumtaz, is Muataz' half-brother. Two of the strikes were carried out in the central Gaza town of Dir el-Balah, where IAF pilots successfully targeted the gunmen involved in the 2006 kidnapping of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit. One of the missiles struck a vehicle carrying the Army of Islam terrorist cell, which included Muataz Dughmush. Five terrorists were killed, including Dughmush, and three others were wounded, one...

GAZA CITY (AFP) — The Islamist Hamas movement insisted on Tuesday that it will not agree to Israeli demands that it free a soldier held captive for almost two years as part of a proposed Gaza truce. "Whoever thinks that the Shalit issue will be settled for free as part of the period of calm is completely wrong," senior Hamas leader Mahmud al-Zahar said in a speech in Gaza City, referring to Corporal Gilad Shalit, seized in a deadly cross-border raid from Gaza in June 2006. "The issue of a prisoner exchange is completely separate from the period of calm,"...

(IsraelNN.com) Israel’s Air Force launched an air strike Thursday morning killing a Hamas terrorist involved in the kidnapping of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit. The air strike, which was based on information from the Shabak (General Security Service) was carried out in Rafiah, along Gaza’s southern border with Sinai, as the terrorist, Nafez Mantzour, was driving with two other Hamas terrorists. The first missile missed the vehicle, according to Hamas reports, and one of Matzour’s accomplices escaped before the second struck. Mantzour was killed and one of his accomplices was wounded. The kidnapping of Gilad Shalit happened in July, 2006 at...

(IsraelNN.com) Senior Hamas terrorists threatened Israel Wednesday night to cut off negotiations over kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit if the IDF did not stop its counter-terrorism operations in Gaza. Israel intensified retaliation air strikes Tuesday and Wednesday against terrorists in response to escalated Kassam rocket attacks on the western Negev. Terror cells firing rockets and mortar shells were the primary targets. Hamas spokesman Ismail El-Muzeini said in an interview on Channel 1 that if the expanded IDF military operations continued, “There is no doubt that it will affect the case of the soldier Gilad Shalit. It is very possible that...

IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME! They should have done this a long time ago, but it is nice to finally see them being proactive in their attempts to find Shalit, and the other two Israelis being held by Hezbollah in violation of UN resolution 1701. YNetNews: Palestinians report Israeli troops disguised as members of Hamas' security force kidnapped Muhawesh al-Kadi, senior member of group's military wing in Rafah. Sources say man involved in abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

Wendy Shalit is loathed by a certain kind of feminist. When as a twentysomething college graduate she published her first book, "A Return to Modesty," she was scorned by The Nation's Katha Pollitt as a "twit," a "professional virgin" who should be given the task of designing "new spandex chadors for female Olympians." Others were less civil. Shalit, who had raised eyebrows even while at Williams College for opposing co-ed bathrooms in student dorms, has now probably put herself even further beyond the pale by marrying young, giving birth to a son, and looking radiantly happy on the jacket cover...

Man also admits to participating in infiltration of IDF outpost five years ago and several missile launchings Hanan Greenberg Published: 07.13.07, 16:04 / Israel News The IDF and Shin Bet arrested Mohammad Sufi, an operative affiliated with Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) who admitted to involvement in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit one year ago, it was cleared for publication on Friday. Sufi (30) was arrested at the beginning of July, and was responsible for documenting the June 25, 2006 attack and kidnapping at Kerem Shalom as part of Hamas' propaganda campaign. During his investigation, Sufi...

The IDF is prepared to carry out an operation to free captured serviceman Gilad Shalit if the government gives it the green light to do so, an officer said Tuesday. Lieutenant Colonel Yoav Tilan, the head of battalion 71 in the armored corps in which Shalit served, spoke during a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the serviceman's kidnapping in a cross-border attack carried out by Hamas gunmen near the Gaza Strip. (Hanan Greenberg)

Palestinian organization spokesman calls release of message by kidnapped IDF soldier act of goodwill, blames Israel for impeding agreement with captors Roee Nahmias Published: 06.25.07, 17:35 / Israel News "The organization's (Hamas') military wing displayed goodwill, which can be built upon towards the continuation of a prisoner exchange deal," Hamas spokesman Razi Hamad said in an official response to Monday’s release of an audio message by kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Hamed said the initiative should be taken advantage of to bring about progress towards an agreement with Israel. The audio message, which was...

Jun. 10, 2007 23:15 | Updated Jun. 11, 2007 0:55 Exclusive: PA pays benefits to Schalit captors' families By KHALED ABU TOAMEH Gilad Shalit with two friends. Photo: Courtesy photo Some of the Palestinian gunmen who participated in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit last year have long been on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian sources revealed Sunday. The sources named two of the suspected kidnappers as Muhammad Azmi Farawneh and Majdi Tayseer Hammad. The two were killed by Israel in separate attacks over the past year. Farawneh is believed to have played a key role...

Hamas: We rejected Red Cross attempt to deliver glasses to kidnapped soldier to stop Israeli rescue attempt Yaakov Lappin Published: 03.21.07, 18:35 / Israel News Hamas has described a Red Cross attempt to deliver glasses to abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit as a "bad old trick," and claimed the initiative was part of an Israeli plan to rescue its captive soldier, a Hamas website said Wednesday. The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, said in a statement, "Zionists have a history of incidents like this when they used Red Cross delegates as a Trojan horse." "The occupation forces tried...

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Monday that Israel expects captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit released before Hamas and Fatah form a new unity government. She spoke after officials in Hamas were quoted as saying that the creation of the new Palestinian unity government and Shalit's release were in no way connected to one another. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during their meeting Sunday that he would make an effort to secure the release of Shalit as soon as possible, and perhaps before the formation of the unity government. Livni said Abbas now had more influence...

Ahead of the much-publicized summit between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday afternoon that was due to focus, among other issues, on captured IDF solider Cpl. Gilad Shalit's release, a senior Hamas official said his group was ready to give Israel a videotape of the soldier if it agreed to release Palestinian women prisoners and other detainees. Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas' political bureau in Damascus, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that Shalit was alive. He said his group would be willing to trade the videotape for the freedom...

Palestinian media reported Sunday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak are set to announce an agreement on the release of Gilad Shalit, during their meeting this coming Thursday. Palestinian sources said earlier Sunday that Israel and Hamas have agreed on the details of a deal that will see the release of the kidnapped Israel Defense Forces soldier, who was snatched from his base near the Gaza Strip on June 25. Meanwhile, Olmert called Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday in order to wish him a happy new year and Eid Al-Adha. According to the Prime...

JERUSALEM - Israel has rebuffed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' request to free Palestinian prisoners ahead of a major Muslim holiday, insisting that Palestinian militants first agree to release a captured Israeli soldier. The decision was at odds with recent overtures by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to bolster the moderate Abbas in the eyes of the Palestinian people, who voted the militantly anti-Israel Hamas group into power nearly one year ago. Separately, the Yediot Ahronot newspaper reported that Olmert was prepared to hold back-channel talks on a blueprint for a final peace deal, as Abbas has proposed. Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin...

Prime Minister Olmert says during weekly cabinet meeting 'it's time to show flexibility, generosity' on issue of prisoners ahead of Eid el-Adha holiday this weekend Ronny Sofer Published: 12.24.06, 16:40 A day following his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tried Sunday to see whether his ministers would be willing to consider the release of Palestinian prisoners in the near future. "It's time to show flexibility and generosity on this issue," Olmert said during a cabinet meeting, "this view may differ from the ones expressed in previous cabinet meetings, but this is my opinion." Olmert reported...

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said negotiations for the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants are in their final stage, according to a newspaper report on Wednesday. Militants linked to the Islamic militant group Hamas, which leads the Palestinian government, crossed the Gaza border into Israel and captured Cpl. Gilad Shalit in June. "Negotiations on releasing him are in their final stage and waiting for Hamas' approval," the semi-official Al Gomhouria quoted Mubarak as telling newspaper editors accompanying him on a trip to Europe. Egypt has made considerable efforts to resolve the crisis, Mubarak said. "But it seems...

UN Commissioner refuses to meet captives' families UN high commissioner on human rights announces she will not meet with families of three kidnapped soldiers during Israel visit. Eldad Regev's brother: 'Decision not to meet families should set off red lights of UN stance behind resolution', Ahiya Raved Published: 11.21.06, 23:22 Arbour in Sderot Photo: ReutersThe UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Louise Arbour has decided not to meet with the families of the kidnapped soldiers during her visit to Israel . The families of Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Gilad Shalit have approached the commissioner two weeks ago already, but...

GAZA (Reuters) - One of the three Palestinian factions holding an Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip said on Saturday it expected a solution to the crisis within days, but Hamas and a Palestinian Authority official were less optimistic. It was the first time since Corporal Gilad Shalit was captured in a cross-border raid in June that any of the factions has said that his release in exchange for Palestinian prisoners could happen soon. The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) said in a statement that the three groups had agreed to a proposal by Egyptian mediators, though it said a deal...

Defense Ministry Confirms: Terrorists to Go Free in Deal for Shalit 12:48 Oct 25, '06 / 3 Cheshvan 5767 (IsraelNN.com) In an interview with Israel Radio this morning, David Hacham, a senior advisor to the defense minister, confirmed reports that had appeared in the Arab press stating that Israel had agreed to free terrorists in a deal for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. Corporal Shalit was taken captive in a multi-pronged attack in Kerem Shalom on June 25, 2006. He is believed to be somewhere in Palestinian Authority-controlled Gaza, in the hands of Hamas terrorists. According to recent...

Oct. 21, 2006 0:41 | Updated Oct. 21, 2006 11:36 Haniyeh advisor says prisoner deal for Shalit is close By JPOST.COM STAFF A senior advisor to Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Saturday that significant progress had been made with Israel to release captured soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, Army Radio reported. Ahmed Youssef said that Israel had agreed to release Palestinian prisoners, including a number of "central Hamas activists and other Arab prisoners." PM: Abbas must act, or all hope is lost Ben-Eliezer: Gaza won't be retaken On Friday, PA Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar said Friday that the possibility...

Report Says Iran Paid Hamas Not to Free Abducted Israeli Soldier October 19, 2006 CNSNews.com Julie Stahl Jerusalem -- An Israeli newspaper says that Iran paid 50 million dollars to the Hamas leadership in Damascus to scuttle a deal that would have led to the release of an abducted Israeli soldier. If the report is true, it would be another sign of Tehran's growing influence over Hamas. Although the Iranian leadership is Shiite Muslim and Hamas is Sunni Muslim, they share the common goal of destroying Israel. Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is a regular visitor to Tehran. Last year,...

Last update - 14:16 19/10/2006 Min. Ben-Eliezer: Israel accepts Egypt's plans for Shalit's release By Avi Issacharoff , Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said on Thursday that Israel accepts many of Egypt's ideas on how to conduct negotiations over the release of an Israel Defense Forces soldier being held by a Hamas-linked group. "We are looking forward to and we have accepted the framework that has been crystallized by the Egyptians," Ben-Eliezer told reporters after talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. But it was not immediately clear if Mubarak had floated any proposals beyond those...

A spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza, Abu Mujahed, warned Israel on Thursday evening against any broad-scale operations in the area, Israel Radio reported. In Abu Mujahed's words, such an operation would not secure the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit even if the IDF wiped out everyone living in the Gaza Strip. He added that Shalit could only be freed through negotiations with a third-party mediator, but not by force. He emphasized that they were fully equipped to hold Shalit captive for years, and Israel wouldn't find him. Earlier, Abu Ubaida, spokesman for Hamas's armed...

Masses turn out for prayers at Western Wall for traditional priestly blessing on Sukkot. Psalms said for wounded and kidnapped soldiers alike Tens of thousands of worshippers showed up at the Western Wall in Jerusalem Monday to participate in the traditional priestly blessing. The morning prayers of Sukkot were held with the Chief Rabbis of Israel Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Rabbi Yonah Metzger in attendance. Following the prayers, the chief rabbis held a special prayer and recited psalms for the speedy recovery of those injured in the war and the return of the kidnapped soldiers. Afterwards, the custom of visiting...

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Monday that Israel had offered to release up to 1,000 prisoners in exchange for captured soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, but Hamas had turned down the proposal. "[There was] a deal that could have freed 900 to 1,000 prisoners, but sadly they have decided to keep holding him," he told Al-Arabiyeh Television. Egypt has been mediating between Israel and Hamas over the release of Shalit, who was abducted at Kerem Shalom on the Gaza border on June 25. Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz told Israel Radio on Sunday that the IDF...

Israeli-Palestinian prisoners swap 'imminent' - Saudi paper By DPA Sep 16, 2006, 19:00 GMT Tel Aviv/Ramallah - A Saudi newspaper reported Saturday that an Israeli Palestinian prisoner swap was set for Sunday. Okaz newspaper said a deal struck Friday in Amman through backroom negotiations by senior Palestinian, Egyptian and Israeli officials would see the release of Hamas ministers and lawmakers - captured and held by Israel - ahead of the release of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit on Sunday by his Palestinian captors. Shalit was taken hostage in a cross-border raid by militants from Hamas and two other allied groups in...

Palestinian sources reported that a prisoner swap deal between Israel and the Palestinian organizations will start to be carried out secretly in Amman, Jordan within the next day. This was reported by Saudi newspaper, Okaz. As of now, there is no authorization of this report from any other body. According to the report, Israel will release the Hamas minister and parliament members detained in Israel within the next day. Simultaneously, the release of kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit will be announced Sunday. In the next stage, according to the report, Israel is expected to release 740 Palestinian prisoners in two...

Report: Shalit to Be Released Sunday 05:22 Sep 15, '06 / 22 Elul 5766 (IsraelNN.com) According to the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Quds Arabi, a deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas towards the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who fell captive on June 25th. Shalit will be released on Sunday, the Arab media is reporting. According to the early-morning Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) report Friday, the report enjoys widespread coverage in the Arab media.

A senior IDF official said Thursday that kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit was being kept in the Gaza Strip and was in Hamas hands. The official speculated that Shalit had transformed from an asset to a burden, both on the Palestinian people and on the Hamas leadership, and therefore the organization was interested in bringing the affair to a close. The official also emphasized that Khaled Mashaal had the final word on the issue. Mashaal was subject to pressure from Hizbullah, Syria, and Iran on the one side, he said, and from the Palestinian leadership - who would like to...

Senior source says sign of life received from kidnapped soldier, discusses 'trust-building' steps to be taken by Israeli gov't, including release of Palestinian prisoners Sign of life from Gilad Shalit – A senior source involved in efforts to secure the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit told Ynet Wednesday that a sign of life had been received and that a potential resolution of the matter was reaching final stages. According to the source, in recent days, the process underwent significant progress and Israel received a sign of life. No such optimistic report was received from the side of Israeli negotiators....

Israel: There is no basis for talks for Hamas-Fatah gov't. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh concluded the parameters for establishing a national unity government late Sunday night, Hamas and Fatah sources confirmed to Haaretz on Monday. But Israel insists that the agreement does not meet the international community's conditions for ending its embargo of the PA. Abbas is expected to announce the dissolution of the current government during the next 48 hours and invite Hamas's Haniyeh to form a new government. Israel, however, is preparing a diplomatic offensive to ensure that the new government is...

Terror leader thanks world for legitimizing tactic, says abductions 'bring big results' A terror leader whose group in June abducted Israeli Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit said Palestinian terror organizations are currently training in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to carry out operations aimed at kidnapping Israeli soldiers. The leader thanked the international community for what he said was its recognition that kidnappings of Israeli soldiers are not considered terrorism but "military operations that bring very big results." He told WorldNetDaily the "best way" to gain the freedom of thousands of Palestinians being held in Israeli jails, including convicted...

Israel, Palestinians to swap prisoners within 48 hours: report Israel will release 1,400 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for its soldier taken hostage in Gaza since late June, the Qatar-based al-Sharq daily reported on Monday. According to a deal, which will take effect within 48 hours, Israel will release Hamas ministers and lawmakers and reopen crossing points into Gaza, the report said. Israel will also stop assassinations and return tax revenues owned to the Palestinian National Authority, it added. In addition to the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was seized by Palestinian militant groups on June 25, the Palestinians are...

An Israeli security delegation was negotiating the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit via Egyptian mediators in Cairo on Friday, Saudi Arabian newspaper Ukha'az reported. Egyptian officials have told their Israeli counterparts in recent days that in exchange for the release of 500 Palestinian female and juvenile prisoners, the kidnappers of Cpl. Gilad Shalit would be willing to release the IDF soldier to Egyptian custody, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Two officers from Egyptian intelligence are currently stationed in the Gaza Strip and are said to be in touch with the actual kidnappers, who have passed on to them their demands....

On the face of it, conversion to Islam would appear to provide a painless escape device for any hostage who happens to fall into fundamentalist terrorist hands. After all, once free, the hostage can always revert to his real faith or non-faith. It is hard to blame the two Fox News journalists, the American Steve Centanni, 60, and the New Zealander, Olaf Wiig, 36, for taking that path on to buy their way out of an uncertain fate at the hands of Palestinian terrorists – especially as they later reported they were forced to make the gesture at gunpoint. And,...

Hamas did not allow representatives of the Red Cross to visit kidnapped soldier, Gilad Shalit, sources said Saturday. The humanitarian organization had requested last week to see Shalit in order to assess his health condition, and were denied the visit by Hamas. "We will not allow visitors to see the soldier while the families of thousands of jailed Palestinians cannot see their loved ones," Hamas officials said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas presented a plan for the release of kinapped Corporal Gilad Shalit to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Palestinian sources told the London-based newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat. According to al-Awsat the plan calls for a cease-fire and the release of Shalit in return for a commitment by Israel to release a large number of Palestinian prisoners. (Roee Nahmias

Life is all about choices. Life in Israel, alas, is all about excruciatingly difficult choices.Terrorism - by design - cruelly creates for its victims any number of no-win situations, precipitating the painful choices that flow from them. Do we bomb an apartment building where a wanted killer is hiding, knowing civilian lives will invariably be lost in the process? Do we react harshly to an incursion of our borders, aware that this reaction will put our forces even further in harm's way? Do we follow our instincts and ignore international pleas to show restraint, straining our already-tenuous relationships with other...

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - The fighting between Israeli forces and Islamic militants in Lebanon hasn't touched Iran or Syria yet, but many analysts think those countries were the hidden hand behind Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers. At the White House and in Arab capitals, the belief is strong that the Mideast's top two hard-line states are playing a dangerous game to increase their influence. However, analysts say it could backfire and weaken Hezbollah, and by extension its two patrons. "We would be idiots if we believed it was only about the Israeli captives," Hazem Saghieh, a senior Lebanese columnist...

Just last Friday, Iranian President Ahmadinejad warned that Israel's return to Gaza could lead to an "explosion" in the Islamic world that would target Israel and its supporters in the West. "They should not let things reach a point where an explosion occurs in the Islamic world," ... "If an explosion occurs, then it won't be limited to geographical boundaries. It will also burn all those who created [Israel] over the past 60 years," he said, implicitly referring to America and other Western nations who support Israel. Years from now, the kidnapping of Corporal Gilad Shalit will be regarded like...

The doctor who visited kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit said his condition was good and that he was wounded in his stomach and shoulder, a senior Palestinian official told Israel Radio late Friday. The doctor's visit, which apparently took place on Thursday, came after pressure from Egypt led Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to approve the checkup. The kidnappers had originally refused to allow a visit. According to Palestinian sources, Shalit was wounded in his shoulder and stomach from shrapnel, but his wounds were treated and his life was not in danger.

ALARM - Gaza: the Security Council will vote on a draft Resolution New York (the United Nations) - the Security Council will vote Thursday evening on a draft Resolution calling at the end of the military operation of Israel in the Gaza Strip and with the release of the Israeli soldier removed, according to the French ambassador, President-in-Office of the institution.

Says US shoulders the responsibility for what is happening in Gaza; Refuses to release soldier unless Israel frees all security prisoners. In his first public appearance since the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal contradicted reports circulated over the past few days by Palestinian and Egyptian sources that Hamas would soften its demands for the release of all security prisoners currently in custody in Israel. At a press conference in Damascus, Mashaal said that Hamas would only free kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit if Israel released Palestinian security prisoners, Israel Radio reported. Mashaal insisted that Shalit would be...

A sizable majority of Palestinians support the continued kidnappings of Israelis as well as persistent Qassam rocket fire as a means to pressure Israel to release Palestinian prisoners, according to a new poll commissioned by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center, the results of which were released Sunday. Of the 1,197 respondents from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, 66.8 percent expressed support for further kidnappings of Israeli civilians while 77.2 percent backed the Kerem Shalom tunnel operation and subsequent kidnapping of Israel Defense Forces Corporal Gilad Shalit. Nonetheless, just 47.7 percent of those polled said they believed the...

Hamas released a statement on Friday asserting that Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped nearly two weeks ago, was alive and being treated well and "humanely in accordance with Islamic principles." The statement called upon the Israeli press and Shalit's family to apply pressure on the Israeli government to concede to the "Palestinians' just demands," according to which 100 female prisoners and 30 long-term prisoners who had already served 20 years in jail would be released in exchange for Shalit. The Hamas expressed surprise at the Israeli refusal to a prisoner exchange. It noted that in the past, Israel had...

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reluctantly allowed the Israeli Defense Forces this week to begin a more extensive ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip after a Palestinian rocket traveled further than any projectile ever fired from Gaza, hitting the strategic, populated city of Ashkelon about eight miles from the Gaza border. Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz announced the new IDF operation was aimed in part at stopping the regular Qassam rocket fire from Gaza into nearby Jewish communities. An Israeli soldier and at least 23 Palestinians, mostly militants, have been killed in street battles since yesterday,...