Kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit will be returned to Israel on Tuesday or Wednesday next week, Israeli authorities reported. Shalit is expected to be transferred to the Sinai Peninsula through Rafah crossing, then to Israel. According to reports, Israel Defense Forces intend to allow Shalit to be reunited with his family as soon as possible.

Shalit’s parents, Noam and Aviva, arrived Wednesday evening in their home in Mitzpe Hila in northern Israel, after leaving the protest site they had been encamped at in Jerusalem. They were welcomed by dozens activists and neighbors.

“I am glad to return home and I’m waiting for Gilad,” said his father Noam. “I want to see him coming down the stairs of the house to come full circle. It’s been a long road. It’s time for Gilad to come home.”

Also on Wednesday, a delegation from the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, led by Khaled Meshaal, the chief of its political bureau, arrived in Cairo evening to finalize the prisoners swap deal with Israel.

Under the agreement, announced Tuesday, Israel is to free 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for its soldier, Gilad Shalit, held captive in Gaza for the past five years.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

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