Noam Shalit, father of Israeli soldier Sgt. 1st Class Gilad Shalit, on Wednesday said that his son, freed Tuesday as part of a prisoner exchange with Hamas, was feeling well and slept well during his first night at home, but needed time to rehabilitate. Police have cordoned off the road leading to the Shalit home in Mitzpe Hila and are also guarding the premises. Despite the heightened security, Gilad took a brief walk outside his home on Wednesday and exchanged a few words with his neighbors. Despite being denied proper medical care during his more than five years of captivity in Gaza, Shalit is in good physical and mental condition, army personnel and his family said Tuesday. Get the Israel Hayom newsletter sent to your mailbox! "I expected you to be surprised by my good condition," the 25-year-old soldier told Israel Defense Forces personnel who examined him upon his release Tuesday. After five years and four months, the Israeli public finally got a glimpse of what it was like for Gilad Shalit in Hamas captivity. Noam Shalit addressed the media on Tuesday night after his son had returned home safely, culminating a momentous day for him, his family, and an entire nation that was glued to their television screens. Gilad crossed into Israel on Tuesday morning after being handed over by Hamas to Egyptian authorities in what was a carefully executed prisoner exchange deal signed between Hamas and Israel last week. Large crowds had amassed in Shalit's hometown of Mitzpe Hila and on the routes leading to the isolated hilltop village in northern Israel wearing T-shirts that read, "How good it is to have you home" and waving Israeli flags. "We have now completed a long, exhausting journey that began in 2006 and ended in October 2011. Today we experienced the rebirth of our son," Noam Shalit told reporters, describing how for the first time in five years his son enjoyed a homemade meal with his family. Israeli radio reported that Gilad Shalit's dinner included schnitzel, french fries and pasta, some of his favorite foods. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit told reporters that Medical Corps personnel who had examined Shalit said his overall health is good, although he would need some time to regain his strength. Noam Shalit said Gilad sustained "minor shrapnel wounds" - presumably resulting from the cross-border raid that led to his capture in 2006 - that were left untreated. He also said that Gilad was suffering from a vitamin D deficiency due to his lack of exposure to sunlight. "Gilad has now gone from a dark pit or some kind of unlit basement into such a huge commotion," his father said. Shalit said that his son told IDF personnel that he was allowed to listen to the radio and watch television broadcasts. He could also name Israel's prime minister and IDF chief of staff, both of whom greeted him at the Tel Nof Air Force base where he was flown to be reunited with his family. Noam Shalit said Gilad knew that there was a campaign in Israel to have him released, but was "surprised" by the pomp and circumstance surrounding his homecoming. "Gilad is happy to be home but because of the solitary confinement he was subjected to, it is difficult for him to meet people. He could not communicate in his native language for a long time," Noam Shalit said. "Gilad was subjected to difficult conditions in the first few years of his captivity, but over the past two years he was afforded better treatment." Shalit went on to recount how he was finally reunited with his son at the Tel Nof base. "When I first saw him I gave him a loving embrace like that between a father and his son. I said 'welcome back' and I escorted him to meet his mother, his brother and his sister who also showered him with love. We then proceeded to eat together as a family but because he was overwhelmed with emotion he was not able to eat too much." IDF sources believe that Gilad was probably aware that his fellow tank comrades had been killed during that fateful raid in June 2006 as he had access to some media reports while in captivity. IDF psychologists say they were pleasantly surprised by Shalit's mental capacity, but there is still work to be done. "He will undergo a rehabilitation process and I hope this process will be completed quickly," his father said Tuesday, expressing his hope that Gilad will "return to a normal life." Following a request by Shalit's family, he will not be discharged from the army for now to streamline the rehabilitation process. He is also expected to be debriefed, a routine procedure for returning POWs, meant to investigate the circumstances that led to his captivity and what he experienced. Noam Shalit took the opportunity to thank Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the Israeli government for securing the release of his son. "I would like to thank the many supporters, and crowds that have gathered in Mitzpe Hila, and activists who campaigned for Gilad's release, the Israel Police and the IDF, the Tel Nof Air Force base personnel and the pilots of the helicopter that brought him home and even made two fly-overs to allow him a bird's-eye view of the masses that gathered to greet him." Reiterating his statements from the days before the deal, Noam Shalit took pains to identify with the bereaved families who have had to watch the killers of their loved ones released as part of the prisoner exchange deal. "For us too this deal is not easy and we fully sympathize with them."
