Israel took the first steps on Sunday in a prisoner swap with Hamas in which hundreds of Palestinian militants will be exchanged for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The swap is expected to take place on Tuesday and should bring to a close a saga that has obsessed Israelis for five years.
The gate of a prison in northern Israel swung open on Sunday morning and three heavily guarded vehicles drove out carrying 15 Palestinian female inmates - some making V-for-victory signs - to another jail to await their release along with 12 other women and 450 male prisoners in the trade.
Israel's Prison Service posted a list of the 477 prisoners due to go free, along with Shalit, in the first stage of the Egyptian and German-brokered deal, opening the way for anyone opposed to their release to file a legal appeal within 48 hours.
"Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, or someone in Gaza goes nuts, it appears the deal will go through in two days," Yaakov Amidror, national security adviser for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Army Radio.
Those on the release roster included Palestinians jailed for attacks in which dozens of Israelis were killed. At least five prisoners have been in jail since their teens.
Gaza's Hamas rulers prepared a heroes' welcome for 295 of the prisoners due to be sent to the territory. Workmen hammered together an open-air stage and streets were decorated with Hamas and Palestinian flags. "I am so happy I do not know what I will do, how will I hold him? It's been 20 years," said the mother of Naseem al-Kurd, a Hamas member who was sentenced in 1992 to eight life sentences for attacks that killed Israelis.
Workers readied an apartment for Kurd in Gaza, painting walls and repairing doors.
Shalit, a tank crewman captured in 2006 by militants who tunnelled into Israel from the fenced-off Gaza Strip and spirited him into the enclave, was expected to be handed over in Egypt's adjacent Sinai desert and flown to Israel. Israel, which withdrew troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005, tightened its blockade of the territory after Shalit was seized.
The repatriation of captured soldiers, alive or dead, has long been an emotionally charged issue for Israelis, many of whom have served in the military. But they also feel a sting over the release of convicted killers.
Photos of Shalit's father, raising an Israeli flag over the roof of the family home, featured prominently in Israeli newspapers on Sunday. An opinion poll by Channel 10 TV showed the exchange was backed by two-thirds of Israelis. Shalit, now 25, was last seen, looking pale and thin, in a 2009 video shot by his captors.
One Israeli group opposed to the deal, the Almagor Terror Victims' Association, said the exchange would lead to more violence and abduction attempts. The Supreme Court will hear its appeal on Monday.