Hamas has officially turned over captive Israeli soldier Sgt Gilad Schalit to Egypt as part of a prisoner swap with Israel, the Palestinian group's leader said.
In a text message, Mahmoud Zahar said that his group is no longer holding
Earlier, militants had whisked the 25-year-old soldier across Gaza's border to Egypt, which has acted as a mediator in the deal.
Israel is freeing more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Sgt Schalit, who was captured by Gaza militants in June 2006. When Tuesday's exchange is complete, 477 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, including 27 women, will have been released, several of them after decades behind bars. The other 550 are set to be released in two months.
The deal, the most lopsided prisoner swap in Israeli history, caps a five-and-a-half-year saga that has seen multiple Israeli military offensives in Gaza, an Israeli blockade on the territory and numerous rounds of failed negotiations.
The swap got under way early on Tuesday as Hamas whisked Sgt Schalit across Gaza's border with Egypt, while Israel simultaneously began freeing the Palestinian prisoners. At mid-morning, Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said his group was no longer holding the soldier.
Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV reported that a high-level Hamas delegation arrived on the Egyptian side to hand over Sgt Schalit and to greet the returning prisoners.
In an elaborate operation, Sgt Schalit was then to be taken across Egypt's border into Israel, and then flown to an air base in central Israel to be reunited with his family.
Sgt Schalit's father Noam made a brief television appearance on his way to the base. Asked whether this was the happiest day of his life, he said: "Yes, you can make that assumption."
Hamas has officially turned over captive Israeli soldier Sgt Gilad Schalit to Egypt as part of a prisoner swap with Israel, the Palestinian group's leader said.
In a text message, Mahmoud Zahar said that his group is no longer holding
Earlier, militants had whisked the 25-year-old soldier across Gaza's border to Egypt, which has acted as a mediator in the deal.
Israel is freeing more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Sgt Schalit, who was captured by Gaza militants in June 2006. When Tuesday's exchange is complete, 477 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, including 27 women, will have been released, several of them after decades behind bars. The other 550 are set to be released in two months.
The deal, the most lopsided prisoner swap in Israeli history, caps a five-and-a-half-year saga that has seen multiple Israeli military offensives in Gaza, an Israeli blockade on the territory and numerous rounds of failed negotiations.
The swap got under way early on Tuesday as Hamas whisked Sgt Schalit across Gaza's border with Egypt, while Israel simultaneously began freeing the Palestinian prisoners. At mid-morning, Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said his group was no longer holding the soldier.
Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV reported that a high-level Hamas delegation arrived on the Egyptian side to hand over Sgt Schalit and to greet the returning prisoners.
In an elaborate operation, Sgt Schalit was then to be taken across Egypt's border into Israel, and then flown to an air base in central Israel to be reunited with his family.
Sgt Schalit's father Noam made a brief television appearance on his way to the base. Asked whether this was the happiest day of his life, he said: "Yes, you can make that assumption."