Gilad Shalit to be Released

Israel and Hamas have agreed a deal for the release of Sgt Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held hostage by Palestinian militants for five years.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal had been reached after arduous talks, and that Sgt Shalit would be back with his family “within days”.

The soldier was captured in a cross-border raid in 2006 and taken to Gaza.

Gerald Steinberg is a professor of Political Studies at Bar Ilan University in Israel.