Beepers were sending out messages at a frenzied pace on Tuesday evening as the internet was abuzz with the rumor that Gilad Shalit was to be turned over to the Egyptians as a prison exchange deal was imminent. YWN opted to ignore the media blitz, monitoring the situation but preferring to wait for credible information. The Shalit case is a sensitive one and publishing such reports as the family painfully marks their son’s third anniversary in Hamas custody was not the route YWN wanted to take.

Shortly after the first pager messages arrived, an official statement was released by the Prime Minister’s Office distancing itself from the information being released, stating there is no official awareness of such an imminent deal.

Unfortunately, the rumors did not actualize into what was hoped would be a major news story, and Shalit remains in Hamas hands, now in his fourth year of captivity.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)