Twenty years after Gilad Shalit’s capture, Israel’s Military Archives has released the operations logs from the southern Gaza brigade, showing in real time how a vague suspicion became the recognition that a soldier had been taken into Gaza. The records, written in the command center on the morning of June 25, 2006, capture the confusion, the growing alarm, and the belated activation of the army’s hostage protocol. Shalit was held for more than five years before being released in the 2011 deal for 1,027 prisoners. Many of those freed, including Yahya Sinwar, later rose to the top of Hamas and were among the planners of the October 7 massacre.
The attack began at about 5:13 a.m., when the first reports came in of mortar and small-arms fire near Kerem Shalom. The logs note repeated explosions, then orders to scramble helicopter gunships. By 5:19, the first worrying message said there were soldiers at the fence and casualties. Minutes later, reports of anti-tank fire, infiltrators, and tank mobilization poured in. At 5:28 the logs mention militants crossing the border route, and by 5:34, all tanks had been deployed. Early assessments already pointed to a deadly hit on a tank.
At 6:34, the picture hardened: two dead, wounded inside the tank, and for the first time the word “missing.” Six minutes later came the line that became emblematic of that morning, “A soldier is missing from the tank.” At 6:44, the army recorded “Hannibal,” the protocol for a kidnapped soldier. But later review showed the abductors had already crossed back into Gaza with Shalit at 5:21, meaning Hannibal was triggered more than an hour after the abduction was already over.
By 6:48, the army log stated that one soldier from the tank was unaccounted for and Hannibal was underway. Search efforts continued through the morning. At 7:12, a vest and helmet were found on the fence, and at 7:46 investigators noted no signs of dragging but confirmed more gear on the border. Only at 8:00 did the name become official: “The kidnapped soldier’s name: Gilad Shalit.” Sayeret Matkal arrived at 9:18, and at 9:52 tracks of the abductors and the captive were identified west of the fence. At 1:38 p.m., the soldier’s vest was found with blood and shrapnel marks. Later, the command staff wrote that Shalit was probably alive, that the Hamas attack had been planned for weeks, and that he may have already been moved farther north in Gaza, or even, according to a rumor recorded at 5:38 p.m., through a tunnel to Egypt. The logs also say the army believed the attack had been in planning for about three weeks and could trigger broader escalation.
