Hamas Must Release Shalit Now, U.S. Says
Hamas must immediately and unconditionally release abducted Israel Defense Solder Gilad Shalit, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said on Wednesday, following a New York meeting with Shalit’s father, Noam Shalit.
In a statement following Rice’s meeting with Shalit’s father, the U.S. UN envoy said she “expressed to Mr. Shalit the solidarity of the United States with him and his family, and I reiterated our strongest condemnation of his son’s detention. “
“As I have said repeatedly in the UN Security Council, Hamas must immediately and unconditionally release Gilad Shalit,” Rice added.
Earlier in her statement, the U.S. official said she was “honored to meet with Noam Shalit today, 1,900 days after his son, Gilad, was taken captive,” adding that during that “period, Hamas has held Gilad hostage and without access by the International Committee of the Red Cross, in violation of international humanitarian standards and basic decency.”
Noam Shalit’s meeting with the U.S. UN envoy came just over a week after Hamas reports clamed that a senior Hamas delegation headed by politburo chief Khaled Meshal, was to in Cairo, adding that the delegation was expected to hold talks over a deal to release Gilad Shalit.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30