The release of palestinian prisoners in shalit swap

The Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange followed an agreement between Israel and Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,027 prisoners – mainly Palestinians and Arab-Israelis, though among the prisoners released there was also a Ukrainian prisoner, a Jordanian prisoner, and a Syrian prisoner. 280 of these were sentenced to life in prison for planning and perpetrating various terror attacks against Israeli targets. The military Hamas leader Ahmed Jabari was quoted in the Saudi Arabian newspaper Al-Hayat as confirming that the prisoners released as part of the deal were collectively responsible for the killing of 569 Israeli civilians. The agreement came five years and four months after Palestinian militants captured Shalit in southern Israel along the Gaza border.

The deal, brokered by German and Egyptian mediators and coordinated by Bundesnachrichtendienst agent Gerhard Conrad, was signed in Egypt on 11 October 2011. Its first phase was executed on 18 October 2011, with Israel releasing 477 Palestinian prisoners and Hamas transferring Shalit to Cairo. In the second phase, to take place during December 2011, approximately another 550 prisoners will be released.

The agreement is one of the largest prisoner exchange agreements Israel has ever made, given that as part of the agreement Israel agreed to release 1,027 prisoners for one captured Israeli soldier – the highest price Israel has ever paid for a single soldier.