A high-ranking defense official confirmed Tuesday that an audio tape of the voice of kidnapped IDF. Cpl. Gilad Shalit released Monday was an authentic recording, according to a report on Voice of Israel government radio. | The unnamed official also said the tape, posted on an Internet website frequently used by terrorists, appears to have been recently recorded, sparking hope that Shalit is still alive. |
ShalitÂ’s father, Noam, also confirmed that his sonÂ’s voice was on the recording, as did the soldierÂ’s mother after hearing the tape on IsraelÂ’s Channel 2 television Monday night.
Although the tape was released by the Hamas-linked Popular Resistance Committees terror group, there remain conflicting reports about who is actually in control of ShalitÂ’s fate.
Damascus-based Hamas political bureau chief and arch-terrorist Khaled Mashaal has denied knowledge of ShalitÂ’s whereabouts, according to a report by the Jerusalem Post. Mashaal also said he does not have the power to force the soldierÂ’s captors to release him, despite the fact that it was a team of Hamas terrorists who kidnapped Shalit.
It is also not clear what options, if any, still exist for Israeli forces to rescue Shalit, whether his location has really been identified and whether an attempt might still be made. A spokeswoman for the Defense Minister told Arutz-7 Tuesday morning that the defense establishment is continuing to "invest numerous efforts to return the kidnapped soldiers," but added that "Due to the sensitivity of the matter, we cannot publicly discuss the answers to the questions you have raised."
The captive IDF soldier was grabbed a year ago during an infiltration raid near the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza. A team of terrorists from three Hamas-linked organizations carried out the sophisticated attack.
The operatives, who also killed two soldiers and wounded four others, included members of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), the Izz el-Din al-Kassam (considered to be the military wing of Hamas), and the Army of Islam, a shadowy group that has also claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) journalist Alan Johnston. The Scottish nationalÂ’s whereabouts are also unknown, but his captors recently released a video of Johnston draped in a suicide bomb vest, claiming that it was rigged to explode if there was any attempt to forcibly release him.
Despite the lack of concrete evidence on ShalitÂ’s current condition, former Israeli Prisoners of War told reporters Monday that the release of the Shalit tape is the first positive sign that the 20-year-old IDF officer is still alive.