The Al Hayat newspaper, based in London, reported that four French physicians examined the captured prisoner of war, Gilad Shalit, in the Gaza Strip last week marking the first time foreign delegates manage to visit him.
The BBC – Arabic and Al Hayat Newspaper reported that the physicians entered the Gaza Strip with the German mediator, Ernst Uhrlau.
The physicians, with different specialties, reportedly went to Cairo and then crossed into the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border terminal. They examined Shalit at the place where he is kept by his abductors.
There was no information on how they were taken to the place where Shalit is held, especially since the fighters holding Shalit captive since June 2006, where able to keep his whereabouts discrete despite repeated Israeli invasions and maneuvers.
Yet, the report also said that Hamas conducted tight security measures while Israeli drones hovered above them.
Israeli Ynet News reported that Uhrlau assured Hamas that Israel would not attempt to free Shalit by force.
Fighters holding Shalit captive repeatedly refused requests by different foreign organizations, and the Red Cross, to visit Shalit. The rejection is attributed to keeping his whereabouts discrete.
According to Al Hayat, the German mediator repeatedly threatened to quit his role as a mediator due to Israel’s stances that kept a prisoner-swap deal a far fetch.
Israel is refusing to release 44 detainees from East Jerusalem and 20 Arab residents in addition to a detainee from the Golan Heights. It also insists on deporting 125 detainees instead of releasing them.
A total of 980 detainees would be released in exchange for Shalit, but Israel is rejecting the release of detainees described as having “blood on their hands”.
Hamas movements insists on a list it presented to the mediator including the release of senior fighters, all female detainees, Fateh leader Maryann Barghouthi and Secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmad Saadat.
Israel said that at the first stage 450 detainees would be freed in exchange for Shalit, and at a later said additional 530 detainees, chosen by Israel, would be released. Hamas wants the release of all detainees it named as a condition for the release of Shalit.
Whenever Israel released detainees as a gesture of good will, the released detainees were about to end their terms anyway, while detainees sentenced to high terms were never freed.
