Noam Schalit, the father of a captive Israeli soldier who battled for five years to free his son from Hamas captors, died Wednesday after a battle with cancer. He was 68.
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The reclusive Schalit, the father of three from a quiet village in northern Israel, was catapulted into the national spotlight after his son, Gilad was captured by the Gaza-based terrorist group, emerging as the public face of the campaign to free him. He rallied the nation around his mission, morphing his son's plight into a national obsession that eventually saw then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greenlight a prisoner exchange to secure Gilad's release.
After his son's release, Noam and wife Aviva returned to their quiet life, became grandparents, and watched Gilad get married. But Noam said his life was deeply impacted by the taxing period during his son's captivity.
"Five and a half years of stress did not help my health," he recently told Channel 12 News. "There is no medical proof to that but it seems there is some connection."
