Q&A: Israeli soldier held in Gaza

Cpl Shalit began military service in July 2005, joining the tank corps

One of the most pressing issues for Israel at the moment is the fate of a young Israeli soldier who was seized during a Palestinian militant raid near the border with Gaza on 25 June 2006.

How was Gilad Shalit captured?

Cpl Shalit was abducted by a joint force of Palestinian militants who burrowed to an Israeli army guard post on the Israeli side of the border with the southern Gaza Strip.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed during the raid near the Kerem Shalom checkpoint and three others were injured. Two Palestinian militants also died. Cpl Shalit - a tank gunner - suffered shrapnel wounds to his hand and shoulder.

The raid was claimed by Hamas's military wing, in league with an umbrella group called the Popular Resistance Committees which includes members of Fatah, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas, and a previously unknown group calling itself the Army of Islam.

The Army of Islam later said Cpl Shalit was being held exclusively by Hamas.

The Army of Islam is the same group that claims to be holding BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, who was abducted in Gaza on 12 March 2007.

What were the consequences of the capture?

Three days after the raid, having demanded Cpl Shalit's unconditional release, Israel launched its first ground invasion into Gaza since its unilateral withdrawal from the strip a year earlier.

It also bombed Gaza's civilian infrastructure and arrested dozens of MPs from Hamas's political wing in the West Bank.

The raids were launched with the aim of freeing Cpl Shalit and preventing rocket fire which had continued from Gaza into Israel since the 2005 withdrawal.

The situation in Gaza became overshadowed by Israel's conflict with the Lebanese group Hezbollah, who seized two soldiers and killed others on 12 July 2006.

A month after Cpl Shalit's capture, the UN's top humanitarian official described Israel's military offensive in Gaza as a "disproportionate use of force". More than 100 Palestinians died and an Israeli soldier were killed during that month.

What are the captors' demands?

The captors of Gilad Shalit have issued varied conditions, all revolving around the release of Palestinians held by Israel on security grounds.

They started by demanding that Israel free all women and youths in return for news on the captive.

Israel dismissed this, but more serious attempts were later made with Egyptian mediation to swap Cpl Shalit for some of the 9,000 Palestinians who Israeli human rights monitors say are detained by Israel.

In April 2007, the captors delivered a list of detainees to Israel whom they wanted freed. The list has not been published and was variously reported to include between 300 and 1,300 names.

Israel reportedly only approved a handful of the names, saying it could not release prisoners who had carried out deadly attacks against Israelis.

Why is the issue so important?

Israel is a highly-militarised society surrounded by hostile nations, where most parents send their sons and daughters as conscripts and continue to serve as reservists in later life.

The last time a soldier was seized in similar circumstances was in 1994, with the abduction of Nachshon Wachsman, who died during a failed rescue attempt.

It is said that troops are meant to open heavy fire at any abductors, even if it means killing the soldier being abducted (the so-called Hannibal Directive, although such a policy has never been officially admitted).

By contrast, Ariel Sharon's government agreed to free 429 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in 2004 and returned the remains of 59 Lebanese, in exchange for the release of a single Israeli citizen and the bodies of three Israeli dead held in Lebanon.

When two other soldiers were seized by Lebanese fighters from the Hezbollah group in 2006, however, Mr Sharon's successor Ehud Olmert went along the military path, unleashing a 34-day bombardment of Lebanon in addition to a ground invasion.

The troops, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, have not been released to date.

The most famous case is missing airman Ron Arad, whose plane came down during a raid over Lebanon in 1986.

Despite a large reward and repeated contacts through third parties, Israel has never learned what became of him and a vigorous campaign for information continues to this day.