Israel Swaps Prisoners for Soldier Video

Updated at 7:25 a.m. Eastern.

Israel freed 19 female Palestinian prisoners on Friday upon receiving a videotape offering the first glimpse of a long-held Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas.

A 20th woman will be released to Gaza on Sunday as part of the exchange, Israel's prisons service said. The deal is seen as a first, tentative step toward trading Sgt. Gilad Schalit, 23, for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

CBS News correspondent Robert Berger confirms that the Israelis were handed the video and the Palestinian women had been set free in the Palestinian territories.

The women were released into the West Bank and Gaza on Friday after an Israeli negotiator viewed the videotape to determine it was authentic. A government official said the video disc was on its way to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu so he could view it.

Berger says the women were welcomed home as heroes by celebrating Palestinians.

An Israeli official who viewed the tape said Schalit looks healthy and speaks lucidly about his past in the two-minute video released by Hamas.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity Friday because he was not authorized to discuss the substance of the footage with reporters.

It was unclear what condition Sgt. Gilad Schalit was in. His captivity has emerged as a key point of contention holding up the lifting of a bruising Israel-led blockade of Gaza.

The trade could also herald an end to a crippling, Israel-led blockade of Gaza, which has prevented the territory from rebuilding after Israel's winter war there.

Israel imposed the blockade after Hamas, a violent group backed by Iran and Syria, seized power in Gaza two years ago. It has refused to lift the embargo until the serviceman is freed.

Schalit was captured in June 2006 by Hamas-linked militants in Gaza who tunneled under the border into Israel, killed two other soldiers and dragged him bleeding into Palestinian territory.

Prior to the video, the authenticity of which has yet to be confirmed by Israeli officials, the only signs of life from him have been several letters and an audio recording. Only one of the letters - written three months after his capture - has been released, just last month. Hamas has not allowed the Red Cross to visit the soldier.

Israel and Hamas shun each other, and German and Egyptian mediators have been acting as go-betweens in swap talks.

A German mediator was to give the Schalit videotape around midday to Israel's lead negotiator, who was to verify it meets three criteria before the Palestinian women were released, an Israeli government official said prior to the exchange that the tape would have to be provably recent, Schalit must be talking clearly into the camera, and the film must be at least a minute long.

Copies of the tape will then be made for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the soldier's family, among others, the official said. It will not be shown to the public if the family doesn't want it released, and even if they agree, it wasn't clear whether the footage would be aired on Friday, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not yet gone through.

Hamas has said it must receive permission from the German mediator before authorizing the release of copies of the videotape to the media.

Israel has said Friday's deal was suggested by mediators as a "confidence-building measure." But Israeli officials have predicted that negotiations for a final deal would be long and difficult.

The Palestinians want Israel to trade up to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for Schalit, including many convicted of deadly attacks on Israelis. Talks have snagged over the specific prisoners the Palestinians want freed and where they are to go after their release.

Still, both Hamas and Israel appear eager to wrap up a deal.

Schalit's return would end a painful chapter in Israel, where military service is compulsory and his long captivity has touched a raw nerve.

Many Israelis have rallied behind the soldier and his family, holding protests calling for his release and decorating their cars with bumper stickers bearing his name. As speculation about a possible prisoner swap grows, however, arguments against his release have grown louder, because of the high price Israel would have to pay.

Hamas' profile, meanwhile, would be raised in Palestinian territories by the loosening of the blockade and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Prisoners enjoy an eminent status in Palestinian society because so many families have members in Israeli jails. A large-scale release would be a coup for Hamas as it jockeys for power against the moderate government led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.