AFP/Mitzpe Hila
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, released after five years in captivity, arrived by helicopter at his family home in the northern village of Mitzpe Hila yesterday to a raucous welcome by thousands of cheering people. Thousands of Israelis, many of them sporting T-shirts featuring a now-famous picture of a young Shalit, began gathering at his family home hours before he was due to return. They lined the street leading to his house, waving Israeli flags and clapping. Many clutched white flowers, roses and carnations, and they showered them upon the convoy that carried Shalit and his family from a helicopter to his home. “Gilad has returned home safely,” they cheered, hugging each other and trying to catch a glimpse of the soldier. Israeli television showed a brief shot of Shalit seated in a white van in the convoy next to his mother Aviva. He smiled as the convoy moved slowly towards the house. When the van arrived, he was quickly surrounded by military personnel accompanying the family, and whisked into the home, where he is expected to spend several days recuperating before undergoing army debriefing. For more than five years, Shalit’s family and their neighbours had fought for the young soldier’s release, with the dream finally becoming a reality yesterday. As the long-awaited day arrived, dozens of villagers gathered by huge screens set up in the streets and in a local community centre to watch the wall-to-wall coverage of his return home. “How good that you’ve come home!” read banners plastered across the hilltop village, echoing the lyrics of a popular Israeli song. Nestled in the hills of northern Israel not far from the Lebanese border, the tiny village of 600 was sealed off to visitors and the press, with only around 100 activists from the Free Shalit Campaign allowed to be present for his return. Inside the community centre, its walls covered with giant flags and banners, dozens of people watched the rolling coverage of events leading up to Shalit’s release, many of them breaking down in tears as the first pictures of him were broadcast on Egyptian state television. “This is a great day for us and for Israel,” villager Sigal Sitton said, her voice shaking with emotion.