Gilad Shalit has set foot on Israeli soil for the first time since June 25 2006.

The IDF confirmed that the soldier had been taken across the border from Egypt into Israel. He was handed over to the Egyptian authorities by Hamas early this morning as part of a prisoner exchange deal.

Gilad Shalit is on his way home after more than five years as a prisoner of Hamas.

The Israeli soldier was released in Gaza early this morning into the hands of Egyptian mediators, as part of the first stage in a prisoner swap deal.

A Hamas spokesman said; "The captured soldier handover process is under way.”

The Israeli Prime Minister has written to the families of victims of terror as a group launched an appeal with Jerusalem's High Court of Justice to cancel the planned prisoner swap.

Benjamin Netanyahu, whose older brother was killed during the raid on Entebbe in 1976, said he understood and knew the pain of bereaved families.

The mother of a teenager who was killed in a terrorist attack 22 years ago has spoken of her sadness that the perpetrator will be released as part of the Gilad Shalit deal.

Kinneret Cohen was 14 when she died, along with 15 others, after Abed al-Hadi Ganaim attacked on a bus going from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"Gilad Shalit returns home. Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen..

"I have chills and tears. Can not sleep. What a joy."

Anglo-Jewry has welcomed the news that a deal has been made to secure the release of Gilad Shalit.

More details have emerged about the deal made between Israel and Hamas last week to bring Gilad Shalit home.

On Tuesday night Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the soldier, captured at the Gaza border more than five years ago, would be back with his family within days.