GAZA CITY - The armed wing of Hamas on Monday released a first audio message from captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who said his health was deteriorating and that he needed hospital treatment.
"I`ve been in prison one year. My situation is deteriorating. I need an extended period in hospital," said the voice in the audio clip posted on the website of Hamas`s armed wing exactly one year after Shalit was taken.
"I am sorry that the Israeli government has not shown more interest. It should meet the demands of my kidnappers so I can be released," said the voice in Hebrew on the tape.
"I am Gilad Shalit. I`ve been arrested by Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. Mother, father, sisters, brothers, my friends in the Israeli army, I send you from my jail my regards and I miss you," said a text in Arabic on the wesbite.
A video tape broadcast on Hamas`s Al-Aqsa television station showed footage of Shalit apparently being captured on June 25, being dragged by two fighters dressed in Israeli army uniforms pulling his T-shirt and running next to him.
No audio messages or video footage of the capture have previously been released although it was understood that Shalit, now aged 20, was wounded during his capture.
The armed wing of Hamas, the rival Popular Resistance Committees and the fringe Army of Islam group claimed joint responsibility for Shalit`s abduction, which sparked a lengthy and deadly Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip.
The tape was released shortly after the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades announced a "surprise" was in the offing on Monday, the one-year anniversary of his disappearance.
The clip was released 10 days after Hamas seized full control of the Gaza Strip in an armed takeover, routing the mainstream Palestinian security services loyal to Western-backed president Mahmud abbas.
It also came just hours after kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston appeared in a frightening new video, saying he was wearing a bomb-belt that his Gaza captors will detonate if there is any attempt to rescue him.
The short video was released by the Palestinian extremists who have been holding the British journalist for 105 days, far longer than any other Westerner snatched in the Gaza Strip.
A spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees said earlier that Shalit was in good health and issued a direct appeal to his family.
"Your son is in good health and lacks nothing," Abu Mujahid told reporters in Gaza City.
"We treated him well but your government has dealt very toughly with the issue in negotiations, without human feeling and every time failed (to secure) a prisoner exchange.
"They (the Israeli government) don`t care. That`s why you have to intensify your pressure on your government, which has abandoned your son."
Although the commando operation in which Shalit was captured was claimed by the three groups, Hamas since declared its break with the Army of Islam, the group claiming to hold Johnston.
Israeli human rights group B`Tselem condemned as a "war crime" Shalit`s continued detention and demanded his immediate release.
"Hostage-taking is considered a war crime and all those involved bear individual criminal liability," the organisation said.
Earlier this year, Egypt attempted to broker an exchange of Shalit for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, but efforts were suspended over deadly fighting between Hamas and the rival Fatah party.
06/25/2007 12:12 GMT