in good health, although pale and thin. Shalit changed into a military uniform and traveled by helicopter to the Tel Nof Airbase, where he met with his family and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At Shalit's release Hamas had several militants with suicide belts in case the Israelis attempted to renege on the deal at the last minute. On the day of the release of Gilad Shalit, immediately after he was transferred to the Red Cross, Israel released 27 prisoners (most of whom would be allowed to return to East Jerusalem and the West Bank and two of them would be deported abroad). Afterwards the rest of the prisoners were transferred in buses to the West Bank. Those that were expelled to Gaza or abroad, were transferred first to Cairo. Egyptian state television interview Immediately following Hamas's release of Shalit, he was interviewed on the Egyptian state-owned television channel Nile TV by anchorwoman Shahira Amin. Generating a storm of criticism in Israel, the interview was considered insensitive and exploitative. An Israeli official stated, "We are all shocked that a so-called interview was forced on (Shalit) before he could even talk to his family or set foot on Israeli soil." Egyptian officials, however, claimed that the interview went according to agreements between Israel, Egypt and Hamas, and that Israel knew about it in advance. During the interview, Shalit appeared uncomfortable and struggled to speak at points while breathing heavily. It later emerged that Hamas militants were still in the room with Shalit as the interview was set up. Israeli media accused Egypt of using the interview to advance Egyptian and pro-Palestinian positions, with the interviewer attempting to prompt Shalit to praise Egypt for its role in arranging the exchange as well as call for the release of all Palestinian prisoners. Israeli journalist Oren Kessler said the interview was not only exploitative but "amateurish, propagandistic, opportunistic and downright cruel." Prominent prisoners released as part of the deal Among the 1,027 prisoners released are about 280 prisoners serving life sentences for planning and perpetrating terror attacks including: Husam Badran, now Hamas spokesman in Qatar. Walid Abd al-Aziz Abd al-Hadi Anajas (36 life sentences) – took part in the execution of the Café Moment bombing (2002), the Hebrew University bombing (2002) and the Rishon LeZion bombing (2002). Nasir Sami Abd al-Razzaq Ali al-Nasser Yataima (29 life sentences) – convicted of planning the Passover massacre (2002)