Palestinian soccer player revealed as captor of ex-hostage Gilad Shalit

Former Palestinian national team soccer player Mahmoud Sarsak was among the terrorists who held Gilad Shalit captive, i24NEWS learned Monday 

A year after Shalit was released from captivity in 2011, the two were even invited as guests of Barcelona FC, but Hamas prevented the meeting between them.

Sarsak, from the Shaboura refugee camp in Rafah, was a player on the Palestinian national soccer team. In 2009, he was arrested by security forces on his way to training, interrogated for a month, and then held in administrative detention for about three years. The Shin Bet security agency refused to reveal the exact circumstances of his arrest, settling for a general statement that he was "active in the [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad organization" and had military training. After international pressure and a hunger strike that Sarsak began, Israel agreed to release him in exchange for a commitment that he would emigrate to Ireland.

Apparently, Sarsak admitted that he had for a period of time held Shalit, who was kidnapped as a soldier in 2006, and even attempted to perpetrate terrorist attacks. Due to an issue of admissibility of evidence, the Shin Bet could not file an indictment against him.

In 2012, a year after Shalit's release from captivity, the Spanish soccer club Barcelona invited Shalit to its Clasico match against Real Madrid. Hamas and pro-Palestinian organizations were outraged, and the team decided to invite also a Palestinian – Sarsak, who had been released that year from an Israeli prison.

At the last minute and after threats from Hamas, Sarsak rejected the invitation.

Shalit's "slogan is the gun, whereas mine is soccer, whose message is love and peace," he said at the time. "For this reason I will refuse."

The Shin Bet refused to comment when asked about the matter.