Parents demand reason captured Israeli soldier not freed

JERUSALEM (CNN) - The parents of an Israeli soldier held captive for nearly two years petitioned Israel's High Court Sunday to compel the government to explain why a ceasefire deal with Hamas did not include the release of their son.

Cpl. Gilad Shalit was seized in June 2006 in a raid into Israel by militants of Hamas, the radical Islamic group that Israel and the United States consider a terrorist organization.

Shalit's parents also made public a letter they received from him earlier this month in which he asked the government "not to neglect the negotiations for my release."

The petition, which names Cpl. Shalit as the first petitioner, is filed against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his senior ministers.

It asks the court to instruct the government to explain why the agreement that includes the opening of the border crossings was not conditioned upon Shalit's release or his transfer to Egypt.