BICOM

Yoel Shalit, brother of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, interrupted the main Independence Day ceremony at Mount Herzl yesterday. Shortly after Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin finished his speech kicking off the official celebrations, Yoel Shalit stood up from the crowd, together with his girlfriend, and held a placard that read ‘Gilad is still alive.’ Security officers escorted the two from the event. ‘I am shouting for Gilad,’ Shalit told reporters after they were removed from the ceremony. ‘He can’t shout, so I have to shout for him.’

Shalit’s father, Noam, said that the campaign for the release of Gilad Shalit was considering an increase in its activities because, he said, ‘nothing is being done about Gilad.’ Hamas spokesmen, meanwhile, denied reports on Al-Jazeera that their movement had agreed in principle to a new Egyptian formulated proposal for a prisoner swap that would ensure Shalit’s release.