Gilad Shalit turned 20 on Monday – an occasion his family marked with a birthday “party” at the Kerem Shalom outpost from which he was abducted last June. Shalit’s parents, Noam and Aviva, and his siblings, Yoel and Hadas, arrived at Kerem Shalom along with other family and friends, where they held a short ceremony and carried balloons.Col. Moshe Sheetrit, the commander of the armored brigade to which Shalit belonged, and Shalit’s father Noam spoke at the ceremony.

“Your friends demanded that our brigade not leave the southern Gaza border without you,” Sheetrit said. “The Barak Brigade has a debt to settle with the terrorists who took you.”

After speaking to the media and holding the ceremony, Col. Sheetrit took the family to the exact spot on the border where Gilad was abducted.

Shalit’s father said at the ceremony, “The days without you have been as long as eternity. We’re doing everything to return you to us. I call on the Palestinian people to end the suffering of hundreds of thousands of their fellow Palestinians by ending this crisis. We’re here to remind the government of Israel and the people of Israel that Gilad is still in captivity.”