Gilad Shalit, son of Noam and Aviva and brother of Yoel and Hadas was born in the Israeli coastal town of Naharia on August 28, 1986. A fan of the NBA, he loved playing basketball and soccer with his neighborhood friends. In school he excelled in physics and math.

In 2005, Gilad began his military service in the Armored Corps. On Sunday June, 25, 2006, a Palestinian Hamas terrorist group attacked a Merkava Tank which was guarding the security fence and an army post, both in Israeli territory. The terrorist group crossed the border south of the Gaza Strip by way of a tunnel under the security fence. During the attack the tank commander, Lt. Hanan Barak and tank team soldier Staff- Sgt. Pavel Slutzker were killed. Four other soldiers were wounded. The terrorist group abducted Gilad, a member of the tank crew, who was apparently wounded during the abduction and taken into the Gaza Strip.

A day after the abduction, the military wing of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, the "Popular Resistance Committees," which includes members of Fatah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas, and the "Army of Islam" announced that they were willing to give information about Gilad, thus acknowledging their complicity in his kidnapping.

Since Gilad's abduction, there has been no information as to his whereabouts or the conditions of his captivity. Gilad has not been granted any visitation rights by the International Red Cross or any other humanitarian organization, as required by international law. The Shalit family has tried to send a number of letters, through the IRC. As far as the family knows Gilad has only received one , which was transferred with the mediation of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Khaled Mash'al, Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau and then to Gilad.