Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held in captivity in Gaza for over five years, has arrived back in Israel, chief army spokesman Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai said on Tuesday.

"Gilad has returned home," he told a press conference at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, which was broadcast live on Israeli TV and radio stations.

"At this moment, Shalit is walking into territory of the State of Israel," he said.

"Gilad Shalit returned to his country, his homeland, and his family."

"Right now, Shalit is being... taken to the nearby Amitai base. In the base, he'll undergo initial medical checks, and will have a phone call with his family," he said.

Shortly before the announcement, Egyptian state TV released the first footage of Shalit in which he could be seen emerging from a vehicle and being accompanied by Egyptian and Hamas officials.

Shalit has been held by militants in Gaza for more than five years and his return to Israel triggered the release of a first trance of 477 Palestinian prisoners.

Indirect talks between Palestine and Israel were mediated by Egypt. Then the German mediator Gerhard Konrad stepped in. In fact, the family of the now famous Israeli soldier, Shalit family felt that the push for his release lost steam and lost all hope that the Israeli government was taking any serious steps in a prisoner swap deal with Palestinians. Shalit’s parents Naom and Aviva traveled to Washington to engage the US for the first time on the matter.

Statements by Konrad and Israeli negotiators who came to Cairo over the past month diverted attention from the deal that everyone has incessantly talked about. This was coordinated with Hamas, which also denied that the German mediator had anything to do with the deal. Sources in Cairo denied his involvement when he was spotted arriving at the Cairo International Airport.

It was also unusual that the deal that involves nearly 1,027 Palestinian prisoners was negotiated in the same manner as during the time of Omar Suleiman, former head of Egypt's security aparatus for decades under ousted president Mubarak. According to many observers Shalit's detainment had lost its power as a Hamas and Fatah pressure tactic, recently becoming nothing more than a talking point in negotiations.

“The ball is in Israel’s court, since Hamas has done all it can in the deal,” asserted Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, co-founder of the Hamas movement to Ahram Online a few days before the deal was announced.

One secret is that Yoram Cohen, the director of Israeli security intelligence, Shabak, was able to finally convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that despite Israel’s many surveillance and espionage capabilities in the Gaza Strip and random contacts it was not able to locate Shalit. The ground in Gaza swallowed him up, people said. Some reported that Hamas moved him outside Gaza, and yet still other reports say they would take him in and out of the area. The bottom line is that Israel could not ascertain his whereabouts.

Accordingly, Netanyahu and most members of his cabinet agreed to pay the price and struck a deal to divert attention after Netanyahu’s government faced 14 July social justice protests that reached the doorstep of every Israeli official. The deal also overshines the positive image of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) at the UN, as he determinately submits a request for membership - putting Palestine one step closer to finally being recognised as a state.

After Netanyahu and his government agreed to the prisoner swap, Egyptian officials were informed that the deal was ready. Cairo informed Hamas by inviting Ahmed Al-Ga’bari to come on Tuesday, and he entered the country without being recognised. According to a member of his delegation despite his very Arabic surname, Al-Ga’bari doesn't look like from the Middle East. Moussa Abu Marzook, deputy director of Hamas Political Bureau, told Ahram Online that Al-Ga’bari is one of three people who know the password to Shalit’s location and his kidnapping that was carried out by four Palestinian groups. Abu Marzook swore that he was not one of the kidnappers.

Al-Ga’bari arrived at Intercontinental Hotel in City Stars at the same time as David Fidan, the Israel special security envoy to the deal. Although Al-Ga’bari had taken part in adjacent room negotiations at the hotel through direct mediation, Israeli sources confirmed that in the final meeting where a deal was struck they sat together at the same negotiating table in direct talks.

Despite how suddenly the deal seemed to come together, it wasn't a smooth deal to come to. Fatah and Hamas objected in Cairo regarding which prisoners should be released. According to sources the discussions did not go beyond criticising the fact that 100 older prisoners remain in jail, some of whom are in solitary confinement and their families had asked for the deal to include transferring them to normal incarceration. There are also nine women who will remain in jail and will not be released, which a Fatah source blames Hamas for not having comprehensive information about who is behind bars. In response, Hamas sources said that the women are under administrative incarceration, and therefore, in relatively less dire circumstances than other prisoners.

Oddly enough, Hamas unofficially asked Cairo to allow the group to open an office in Egypt, which the Egyptian Intelligence Agency rejected. Although Meshaal emphasised that there was no such request, sources assert that the request was made but Egypt’s military leaders and intelligence agency turned it down. Ayman Taha, a Hamas envoy, had visited Cairo in recent weeks and is often seen at political events. It is rumoured that he has, in fact, opened an office for the group in Cairo.

The exchange has taken place, on Tuesday. The Israelis call it "Drawing of Water" or "Operation Beit HaShoeva," which is borrowed from the Torah and rooted in religious tradition and rituals. It denotes the joy of the Jewish celebration of the beginning of the rain season. There is a phrase in the Torah that states: "Anyone who has never witnessed the Simchat Beit HaShoeva has never in his life seen true joy."