In June 2006 Hamas militants kidnapped 19-year-old Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier, near the Kerem Shalom crossing, within Israel. He has been held for the last five years at an undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip. On Sunday he will be 25 years old. His parents have made public the letter they have sent to him to mark his 1,890th day in captivity:

“Our beloved Gilad, we know that every day that passes is another nightmarish day, a day of impossible suffering, days and nights of suffocating endless loneliness. But you must believe that we do not forget you, we do not forget the fact that next Sunday, you will be 25 years old, that this is your sixth birthday in captivity, that more than a fifth of your young life has been spent in a dungeon, a Hamas pit.”

Strangely you don’t hear much about Shalit from usually vocal human rights campaigners and Middle East watchers…