After five years of failed negotiations, officials from Israel and Palestinian resistance group Hamas announced a deal to exchange captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit for 1,027 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

  GAUNT and pale, Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit returned home Tuesday after more than five years in captivity, freed in a lopsided exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners that could greatly complicate Mideast peace prospects and strengthen the Islamic militant Hamas.

    The swap set off massive celebrations in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

    The 25-year-old Schalit’s poor condition, a jarring appearance by masked Hamas men during his release and the prospects of a strengthened Hamas bode poorly for future relations between Israel and the Palestinians.

    After being hidden from public view since his capture five and half years ago, Schalit — the first captive Israeli soldier to return home alive in a generation — was whisked early Tuesday across Gaza’s border by a group of armed Hamas militants.

    A brief video released by Egyptian TV showed the young sergeant wearing a baseball cap and gray shirt, surrounded by Gaza militants with black face masks and green headbands who then handed him over to Egyptian mediators.

    Before he was turned over to Israeli officials, Schalit spoke to Egyptian TV in an interview while masked militants milled around and Hamas’ No. 2 leader, Musa Abu Marzouk, hovered nearby.

    Looking wan and uncomfortable, Schalit appeared to struggle to speak at times, and his breathing was noticeably labored as he answered questions asked through an interpreter.

    Stumbling over his words, he spoke in Hebrew of missing his family and friends, said he feared he would remain in captivity “many more years” and worried that the deal might fall through after learning about it last week.

    At times, the questions seemed awkward and even inappropriate.

    Noting that more than 4,000 Palestinians are still imprisoned in Israel, the interviewer asked: “Will you help campaign for their release?”

    After a long pause, Shalit replied: “I would be really happy that (Palestinian prisoners) are freed, but they shouldn’t go back to fighting Israel.” Then he added: “I really hope that this deal advances peace and not more military conflicts and wars between Israel and the Palestinians.”

    Later, footage released by the Israeli military showed Schalit being helped into a military vehicle for the crossing into Israel, then limping as he left a building after changing into a fresh army uniform with the newly promoted rank of sergeant first class.

    In Schalit’s hometown, the tiny village of Mitzpe Hila in northern Israel, thousands of people filled streets and rooftops to welcome him home, waving flags, uncorking champagne bottles, singing and dancing.

    Schalit was captured by Hamas-linked militants in a cross-border raid in June 2006, then dragged to the Gaza Strip. He was kept in isolation, barred from having visitors and seen only once, in a scripted video released by his captors two years ago to prove he was alive.

    Israeli pressure, including an economic blockade and a fierce military offensive in the weeks after his capture, failed to win his release.

    Under Tuesday’s agreement, Israel exchanged 477 prisoners — most of them serving life sentences for involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis. A second batch of 550 prisoners is to be released in two months.

    In Mitzpe Hila, Schalit, who arrived on board a military helicopter, smiled and waved briefly to the crowd before ducking into his family’s house.

    Addressing the crowd, Schalit’s father, Noam, thanked the Israeli public for years of support and said his son was healthy overall, but would need time to recover from psychological and physical wounds.

    The elder Schalit has become a ubiquitous figure in Israel since his son’s capture, leading a highly visible campaign to keep the issue on the agenda. In the summer of 2010, he led days of nationwide marches calling on the government to press for his release, and for years he maintained a protest tent outside the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem.

    Born on Aug. 28, 1986, Schalit was raised in Mitzpe Hila in northern Israel. After graduating with distinction from Manor Kabri High School in 2005, Schalit enlisted in the Israeli military — as all Israelis are required to do under Israeli conscription laws.

    Upon completing his military training, Schalit volunteered to serve in a combat unit despite having what the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs has described as “a low medical profile.”

    Schalit was seized June 25, 2006 in a Hamas-led cross-border raid. At the time of his capture, Schalit was serving as a tank gunner on the Gaza-Israel border.

    Schalit’s capture has since been a point of contention between Israelis and Palestinians — with Hamas saying that he could only be released in exchange for 1,000 imprisoned Palestinians and Israel refusing.

    Since 2006, Israel has used the capture of Schalit to justify a number of deadly raids in the Gaza Strip, including 2006’s Operation Summer Rains — a series of large-scale battles that killed over 400 Palestinians.

    One of those battles, a raid in Khan Yunis, was a failed attempt by Israeli commandos to rescue Schalit.

    In 2007, Hamas released recorded message from him.

    In the message, Shalit said: “It is clear that they [Israel] must accept their [Hamas] demands if they want me to be released from prison, especially since I was part of a military operation under military instructions and not a drug dealer.

    “Just as I have parents, a mother and a father, the Palestinian prisoners also have mothers and fathers — and their children must be returned to them.”

    The last video evidence that Schalit was still alive was in 2009.

    In the video, Shalit said: “I hope that the current administration, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, won’t waste this opportunity to achieve a deal, and as a result I will finally be able to realize my dream and be released.”

        (SD-Agencies)

    Timeline: past prisoner swaps     

    DEAL to swap 1,027 Palestinian prisoners for Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit is eighth such agreement since 1982 and probably the highest-profile deal between the two sides, owing to the intense media attention surrounding Schalit.

    ■ 1983: In the largest-ever deal, Israel exchanged more than 4,500 Palestinian prisoners for six Israeli soldiers who were held prisoner by the Palestine Liberation Organization.

    ■ 1984: Israel swapped 291 Syrian prisoners and the bodies of 72 others in exchange for six Israelis and five bodies.

    ■ May 1985: The so-called “Jibril Agreement” swapped 1,150 prisoners for three Israelis seized in Lebanon by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC).

    ■ July 1985: 331 Lebanese Shias were freed from detention. They claimed their release was part of a deal in exchange for 39 foreigners seized on a TWA flight to Beirut; Israel denied that connection.

    ■ 1996: An agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, mediated by Germany, swapped the bodies of 123 fighters in exchange for the remains of two Israeli soldiers.

    ■ 2004: Israel released 436 prisoners, including Palestinians and other Arabs, in return for Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum and the remains of three soldiers killed in 2000.

    ■ 2008: Israel released Samir Kuntar, convicted of murdering four Israelis in 1979, and four Hezbollah fighters in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers seized during a cross-border raid.