Saturday marked the fifth occurrence of a most sad anniversary denoting the date when Galid Shalit was captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza as their prisoner.
Five years have passed without him once being able to see a Red Cross representative as required by international law.
Since 2006, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has repeatedly asked Hamas to allow visits by the ICRC to ascertain Shalit's conditions of detention and treatment, but Hamas refused the requests. An ICRC representative said that under international humanitarian law Shalit is entitled to regular and unconditional contacts with his family....
Human Rights Watch has also stated that Hamas authorities are obligated by the laws of war to allow Shalit to correspond with his family, and noted that three letters and a voice recording cannot be counted as regular correspondence. HRW has also called to receive visits from the ICRC and said that prolonged incommunicado detention of Shalit is cruel and inhumane and may amount to torture.
We should all keep him in our thoughts and prayers and reflect on his bravery to endure the terrible treatment he has received at the hands of his captors.