The following is a timeline of the expected sequence of events for the prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel, set for Tuesday, October 18:
Stage 1: Hamas
transfers Gilad Schalit to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip
Stage 2: Israel
releases 27 female prisoners upon confirmation that Schalit is alive and has
been transferred to the Red Cross
Stage 3: Schalit is transferred by the Red
Cross to Egypt, where he's expected to spend 15-20 minutes
Stage 4: Israel
releases 450 prisoners:
- 294 Gaza-bound prisoners from Gaza and the West Bank
will be transferred by land via Egypt
- 96 prisoners being sent to the West Bank
will be transferred from the Ofer Prison to Ramallah
- 14 prisoners will be
transferred from the Ofer Prison to east Jerusalem
- 40 prisoners from the West
Bank being sent overseas will be transferred to Egypt.
- The six Israeli
Arabs being released will be waiting at Israel Police stations throughout the
country near their homes prior to release Simultaneously, Schalit is transferred
to Israel via a land crossing with Egypt
Stage 5: Schalit is taken to an IDF
base in the South, where he undergoes a series of preliminary medical checks,
and is given the first opportunity to call his family
Stage 6: If deemed
healthy, Schalit is flown by the Air Force to Tel Nof IAF base, near Rehovot,
which has already set up a room for a small reception
Stage 7: Upon landing,
Schait undergoes additional medical checks by the IDF Medical Corps
Stage 8:
Schalit meets very briefly with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense
Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, and is
then immediately taken to meet with his parents, grandfather, brother and
sister.
Stage 9: If deemed healthy, Schalit is flown from Tel Nof to his
home in Mitzpe Hila
Stage 10: Two months later, Israel releases 550 prisoners of
its choice
