A video produced by Hamas' armed wing the Al-Qassam Brigades, will broadcast a 3D animated video of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on Sunday, over the movement's Al-Aqsa satellite TV station.
The video, posted to the Al-Qassam website Sunday morning, contains a voice-over that sounds much like Gilad, in some cases repeating phrases that the captured soldier used in the last recorded video message to his family and country, which was released in mid September proving the young man was in good health. In return the Israeli government released 18 female prisoners into the West Bank and Gaza.
"I hope the government led by Netanyahu will not miss the opportunity to finalize a prisoner swap deal so I can realize my dream of being freed after a long period of waiting," a voice identified as Gilad's says in Hebrew with Arabic subtitles. The soldier said the same words in his September message.
As the voice is heard, the animated video shows Shalit's father on a long search for his son, walking by posters of Israeli leaders calling for his release, but failing to act. The posters bearing Gilad's name are all campaign posters with current, and fuzzy future leaders feigning action.
At one point, a bearded Noam Shalit, holding a photo of his son as he walks with a cane, passes an Israeli ministry building, with the sign: Ministry or Prisoners and Missing persons.
After what appears to be long years, the video announces a long delayed prisoners swap, and shows Noam at the Erez crossing point, passed by a large Red Cross buss, is said to be reunited with his son, who is taken out of a green van in a coffin.
The father lets out a cry, and the video ends, saying there is still time to change Gilad's ending.
The video portrays the release of Palestinian prisoners as inevitable, and postures the release of Shalit similar to that of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev's, released in 2008 as a corpses. Though rumors said the two was not alive, their families did not know the soldiers' condition for certain until the remains were identified by DNA.
The case of Ron Arad, an Israeli fighter pilot who was captured in 1986 after his plane crashed in southern Lebanon, was also referenced. It is believed Arad was captured, but his body has never been recovered. He is listed by the Israeli government as "missing in action."
One source said the clip communicated to the Israeli government that it would "regret insisting on refuting [Shalit's] captors' demands" to release a list of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody in a swap deal."
The source said that the message of the video, was that "If the government refuses the resistance's demands, it will be forced to release a larger number of prisoners sooner or later, but the toll paid will be heavier."
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