A chilling new animated video about captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has been released four years after Hamas militants took him hostage.
Titled “Four years on, we still have Gilad”, the video shows images of tanks, barbed wire and explosions, replicating the cross-border raid in which he was taken.
It ends with an Arabic slogan which means "the illusion is shattering" and the numbers 2006/6/25 – the date Gilad was kidnapped.
In the four years since then, just three letters, an audio and a video have been released to prove the now 23-year-old remains alive.
Despite Israeli attempts, talks over a prisoner exchange have broken down, with Hamas refusing even to allow the Red Cross to visit the soldier where he is being held in Gaza.
The latest video follows the release of a cartoon film showing Shalit in a coffin in April 2010. It comes just days after Gilad’s parents Noam and Aviva Shalit launched a protest march across Israel to campaign for their sons release.
The Shalits plan to end the march outside Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s house in Jerusalem and have said they will camp there until their son is free.
A vigil has also been planned near the Houses of Parliament in London, while thousands have gathered in Paris to call for Gilad’s release.
