Image by wikicommons

Gilad Shalit will accompany a flight of new immigrants, including 106 children, leaving New York for Israel on Monday.

The former captive soldier will be onboard the first chartered El Al aliyah flight of the summer, which will leave John F. Kennedy Airport with 231 new immigrants, including 41 families.

A live feed of the immigrants landing in Israel, at 7 A.M. Tuesday, and the welcoming ceremony will be available at the Nefesh B’Nefesh website.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Some 990 children are scheduled to make aliyah this year, according to Nefesh B’Nefesh, a 20 percent increase over last year.

Last month, Hamas posted a video showing Shalit preparing to be released.

The 38-second video posted to the Internet showed Shalit buttoning a new shirt, tying his shoes and getting out of his chair flanked by Hamas operatives.

The video also shows photos of other Israelis kidnapped and killed by Hamas and ends with the words, in Arabic, “We started to achieve the goal, and we will reach the end.”

The video was prepared by the Iz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.

Shalit was the only member of a three-man crew who survived a cross-border attack on June 25, 2006 by armed Palestinians who captured him and hid him in Gaza. He was released in a 2011 deal with Hamas in exchange for 1,027 prisoners, many of them convicted terrorists responsible for killing Israelis.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

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.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount