--- title: In Israel, a Family's Plea Running Out of Time | TIME description: The family of captured soldier Gilad Shalit beseeches outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert to negotiate his release with Hamas before leaving office. canonical: https://time.com/video/DtsHex6U/ og:title: In Israel, a Family's Plea Running Out of Time og:description: The family of captured soldier Gilad Shalit beseeches outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert to negotiate his release with Hamas before leaving office. og:url: https://time.com/video/DtsHex6U/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DtsHex6U/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: In Israel, a Family's Plea Running Out of Time twitter:description: The family of captured soldier Gilad Shalit beseeches outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert to negotiate his release with Hamas before leaving office. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DtsHex6U/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # In Israel, a Family's Plea Running Out of Time > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: In Israel, a Family's Plea Running Out of Time [Watch (HLS stream): In Israel, a Family's Plea Running Out of Time](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DtsHex6U.m3u8) (4:36)  _Published 2009-03-19. The family of captured soldier Gilad Shalit beseeches outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert to negotiate his release with Hamas before leaving office._ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:07 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Hamas Leader Says Israel Killing His Family Won’t Affect Ceasefire Negotiations](/video/eHqAlaim/) ### Hamas Leader Says Israel Killing His Family Won’t Affect Ceasefire Negotiations [Former Israel Prime Minister Olmert Goes to Prison](/video/SLceK3EU/) ### Former Israel Prime Minister Olmert Goes to Prison [Hamas Releases Tape of Captured Israeli Soldier](/video/rRwlyoiX/) ### Hamas Releases Tape of Captured Israeli Soldier --- ## Transcript -[ Foreign Language ] >> These are scenes from a protest outside the Prime Minister's office for the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit an Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip for nearly a thousand days. With the more hardline government poised to take over in Israel, the Shalit family and their supporters are ratcheting up pressure on the current Israeli government led by Ehud Olmert to secure Gilad's release before his term ends. >> In a secure area closer to Olmert's office, Shalit's brother, father and mother waited anxiously for news from a special cabinet meeting that would decide Gilad's fate. Meanwhile, Gilad's father, Noam, relayed a message for Hamas which he delivered through the Arabic media. >> I would recommend that Hamas to now, to hurry up and cut a deal now before the new government will be formed. Because they won't get a better deal with the new government. >> On his way out of office, Prime Minister Olmert is faced with the moral, political and security dilemma all wrapped into one. Hamas is asking for the release of hundreds of operatives, some of whom were commanders who engineered suicide attacks against Israelis. The question facing Olmert is how many prisoners and what kind of prisoners is he willing to free in order to free one of his own? >> This is something that's really, tells to us what our values as a nation that if we send someone to fight for us, we need to fight for him and bring him back. >> I want to make sure that my little brother and everyone's little brothers that goes to the army knows that no matter what happens that we're gonna do everything we can to make sure they come back. >> Palestinians, I will release all of them if it depends on me. >> For many Israelis it is not so black and white. >> Six years and 10 days ago, [ unk ] was in a bus taking him from the- from school to home while he was talking to me in the phone, I told him a joke, he laughed and said, " Daddy, I love you ", and that moment the mass murderer operated the trigger of the suicide belt. >> This man, Yossi Mendelevitch, who lost his 13- year- old son in a Hamas attack, is part of an organization of bereaved family members who are opposed to prisoner exchanges. >> These people have been moved out from the society because they've committed crimes so are we going to collapse the, to bring down the justice system, for what reason? >> If I want to be, you know, kidnapped, I expect my government to do everything it can to release me but if the price is hundreds of murderers, terrorists coming out and coming back to the terrorist cycle, I ask that my government doesn't do it. >> My brother was killed by the Hamas, my brother, and I give the permission to let him go in order to get Gilad. >> Even though he lost a brother to Hamas, [ unk ] is supporting the Shalit family's demand that Gilad be released no matter what the price. >> If we don't do it, we won't see him again. There is no-- there is no price for one people. >> There is no price so if it means thousand people, a thousand people okay. >> In order to keep the pressure on the Olmert government and keep their son in the limelight, the Shalit family are now sleeping in a tent next to the Prime Minister's residence. The latest round of negotiations appear to have failed because Hamas wanted 450 prisoners released and Israel only approved of 325 but the only number that matters to the Shalit family is this one, >> The number of days since they last heard from their son. >> I'm sure that there are ways that came out from these rich decision makers in Israel, you know, you know what I mean. >> Are you optimistic? >> No, unfortunately not- Hello? 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