Twenty years after Hamas kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, the Defense Ministry has released the Southern Brigade’s original operations logs, exposing in chilling detail the frantic hours as Israeli commanders slowly realized one of their soldiers had vanished into Gaza.

The minute-by-minute records begin with reports of explosions and heavy gunfire near Kerem Shalom after a Hamas terror squad emerged from a cross-border tunnel and ambushed an Israeli tank, killing Lt. Hanan Barak and Staff Sgt. Pavel Slutsker. At 6:40 a.m., the entry that changed everything appeared: “A soldier is missing from the tank.” Just four minutes later, the IDF activated the Hannibal Directive, launching a desperate effort to stop the kidnappers before they disappeared into Gaza.

The logs capture the growing panic. Soldiers found Shalit’s helmet and later his bloodstained protective vest near the border, but there were no clear signs of where he had been taken. At exactly 8 a.m., the devastating confirmation was entered into the operations room: “Name of the abducted soldier: Gilad Shalit.” Hours later, commanders warned that Hamas had carefully planned the attack for weeks and feared the hostage had already been moved deep into Gaza—or even through tunnels toward Egypt.

The newly declassified documents offer one of the most dramatic inside accounts ever released of the attack that plunged Israel into a five-year national ordeal and forever changed the country’s approach to hostage rescues and Hamas.

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