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Source: http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=Gilad+Shalit:+Hostage+of+Hamas
Gilad Shalit: Hostage of Hamas
(Wall Street Journal) Michael Oren - The Israel Defense Forces is a citizens' army in which most young men serve for a minimum of three years, followed by several decades of reserve duty. Our soldiers are literally our parents, our siblings, our children. All of us have loved ones who could suffer the same ordeal that Gilad Shalit began four years ago today. On June 25, 2006, Hamas terrorists - using a tunnel secretly excavated during a cease-fire with Israel - infiltrated under the Gaza border and attacked an IDF base. Firing rocket grenades and automatic weapons, they killed two soldiers - Lt. Hanan Barak and Sgt. Pavel Slutzker, both 20 - and kidnapped 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit. The IDF promptly launched a massive manhunt in Gaza, suffering an additional five fatalities, but failed to find the abductors. Hamas has demanded that Israel release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, most of them convicted terrorists, in exchange for Shalit's freedom. The writer is Israel's ambassador to the United States.