France "has not forgotten Gilad Shalit," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Friday in a special statement published on the foreign ministry’s website, as Israel marks five years since the Israeli soldier who has also French citizenship was captured by Hamas.
"On the eve of the sad anniversary of the fifth year of Gilad Shalit's captivity, I want to reiterate that the situation of our compatriot, held in defiance of the most basic principles of international humanitarian law, is unacceptable," Juppe said in the statement.
"It is also unique: Gilad Shalit is, today, the French hostage who has been held in captivity the longest."
The French minister, who recently met with Shalit's parents in Jerusalem, added: "We've mobilized our partners and continue to work tirelessly for Shalit's release, in coordination with other ongoing mediation efforts."
Paris continues to demand that the Red Cross be allowed to visit Shalit, Juppe said.
"For Gilad Shalit, there is no Arab Spring: The wind of freedom blowing through the region has not reached him. Nobody can be indifferent to the drama he and his family have experienced for nearly five years now.”
Shalit, 24, was captured on June 25, 2006, taken across the border from Israel into Gaza, and has been held since then by Hamas.
The parents of Gilad Shalit, Noam and Aviva Shalit, last week filed suit in a Paris court against their son’s kidnapping and illegal imprisonment.
The complaint states that the kidnap was accompanied by aggravating circumstances and that he may have "suffered from acts of torture or of barbarism."
According to Patrick Klugman, the parents’s lawyer, a judge will be named in the next few days.
Solidarity rallies are planned this weekend in Israel, including a protest Saturday outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence and a 24-hour event at Herzliya Studios, Israel’s largest TV facility, where dozens of celebrities and politicians will each spend an hour in “solitary confinement” in solidarity with Gilad Shalit.
A rally is also scheduled in Rome, Italy, where the Italian capital’s mayor Gianni Alemanno will help release 1,826 yellow balloons, corresponding to the number of days Shalit has been held in captivity.