Gilad Shalit Has Surgery for Old Wounds
Freed Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit underwent surgery on Friday to have shrapnel removed from a wrist and elbow.
The shrapnel had been inside Shalit since he was kidnapped by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid on June 25, 2006.
Shalit was released by Hamas last month as part of a prisoner exchange deal in which Israel agreed to free 1,027 Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners to secure Shalit’s return.
Rambam Hospital in Haifa, where the surgery occurred on Friday, reported that Shalit is recuperating and in good condition. He is expected to be released from the hospital on Saturday.
The surgery is part of the medical treatment that Shalit has received since he was released from Hamas captivity.
This past week, Shalit began to be debriefed by IDF security and intelligence officials. The IDF said that the debriefing process will be a gradual one, starting with short sessions in accordance with Shalit’s condition, out of sensitivity to the experiences he went through over the past five and a half years.
However, the decision to begin the debriefing process was based on assessments by IDF mental health officials that Shalit dealt surprisingly well psychologically with his captivity.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO