Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has returned to Israel after being freed by the Islamist Hamas movement in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The Israeli military said Shalit, who had been held since 2006, crossed into Israel Tuesday after Hamas transferred custody of him to Egypt earlier in the day.
He was scheduled to undergo a medical exam and speak to his family by telephone before flying to be reunited with them at a military base in central Israel.
In an interview with Egyptian television after his release, a thin looking Shalit said he was in good health and missed his family and friends.
Buses of Palestinian prisoners crossed into the Gaza Strip as part of the exchange, which calls for 477 Palestinian inmates to be freed Tuesday and another 550 to be released over a two-month period.
About 100 of the Palestinians will be sent to the West Bank and roughly 40 are to be deported to Jordan, Turkey, Qatar and Syria. The rest will be freed in Gaza, where Hamas has been readying a heroes' welcome.
Shalit, now 25 years-old, was captured by Palestinian militants in a 2006 cross-border raid from Gaza into southern Israel.
Israel's Supreme Court upheld the prisoner exchange deal Monday, rejecting four petitions submitted by relatives of Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks.
Some of the prisoners to be released were involved in planning and carrying out terrorist attacks against Israelis, including more than 280 Palestinians serving life sentences. More than 100 are considered hardcore militants.
In Washington Monday, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said international mediators will meet separately with Palestinian and Israeli negotiators in Jerusalem on October 26, in an effort to re-launch peace talks.
The Middle East Quartet of mediators includes the U.S., European Union, Russia and the United Nations. The talks will just miss the 30-day deadline to restart preliminary talks that the Quartet set on September 23.
Quartet envoy Tony Blair, Britain's former prime minister, will attend the meetings.
