Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas have confirmed a deal that will free over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Shalit has been held in Gaza since June 2006. The 1,027 Palestinians to be freed are among the more than 7,000 imprisoned inside Israel, many without charge. The Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, praised the deal at a celebratory rally.

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas leader: “Young people, brothers, we have to begin from now to put in place all the arrangements necessary to welcome the liberated heroes who are coming back to their land, to their families. And we have to begin all the necessary arrangements that would suit this historical moment, the moment of a big victory.”