In Hamas video, captive Israeli says he is well

JERUSALEM — In the first glimpse since his capture more than three years ago, a thin but healthy-looking Israeli soldier says in a video released Friday that he is being treated well by his Palestinian captors and appeals to Israel's leader to bring him home.

In exchange for the two-minute video handed over by Hamas militants, Israel released 19 Palestinian women prisoners earlier Friday in a deal that is the first tangible step toward defusing a key flash point in Israeli-Palestinian hostilities.

The images of Sgt. Gilad Schalit were the first to be released since his capture 3 1/2 years ago by Hamas-linked militants in the Gaza Strip. Dressed in olive drab military fatigues, Schalit rose from the chair where he read a prepared statement tucked behind an Arabic-language newspaper, apparently to demonstrate he could stand on his own.

Speaking lucidly and reading clearly in Hebrew, he sent his love to his parents, recalled in detail a 2005 visit his family paid to his military base and appealed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "not to squander this opportunity" to bring him home.

"I read the paper to find material and hope to find any material about my release and my imminent return home," he said, smiling often throughout the video.

Schalit, 23, said he was in good health and that his captors were treating him "excellently." He was clean-shaven and his hair was closely cropped, but he was not wearing glasses, as he did before his capture.

The video's arrival in Israel, together with the Palestinian prisoners' triumphant return home to a flag-waving and cheering crowd, gave hope to each side that a wider, long-awaited prisoner swap was in the offing.

Hamas is demanding freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as their price for Schalit, whose capture and drawn-out captivity has touched a raw nerve in a country where most families have loved ones in the military.

Friday's deal could also herald an end to a crippling, Israel-led blockade of Gaza that has prevented the territory from rebuilding after Israel's war there in December and January.

Israel imposed the blockade after Hamas, a violent group backed by Iran and Syria, seized power in Gaza two years ago. Israel has made it clear that it will not ease the embargo before the serviceman is freed.

Hamas' prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, hailed the deal as a "triumph" for the armed Palestinian resistance against Israel.