The soldier had fallen asleep during a rest break inside Gaza and was extricated only after his unit had returned to base.

JERUSALEM, July 29 — An embarrassed Israeli military confirmed Sunday that a soldier from an elite brigade was left behind by his comrades in the Gaza Strip last week, and that he was extricated only after they had returned to base.




That soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, was seized during a Palestinian raid inside Israel. Israel has been unable to pinpoint where he is being held, presumably inside Gaza, and has been negotiating with Hamas about a major prisoner swap to get him back.


The current Israeli chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, is from the Golani Brigade, and his appointment was meant to show the important place of the infantry after the resignation of Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, an air force man, after last summer’s war against Hezbollah.


An additional 500 or so Palestinians have Israeli approval to return the same way, of nearly 6,000 waiting in Egypt. One man told Agence-France Presse that when he went to register with the Palestinian diplomatic office in Cairo, the staff refused to take his name because he belonged to Hamas.

Others say they cannot afford to go to Cairo to register.

In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert confirmed that Israel would receive a 25 percent annual increase in defense aid from the United States over the next decade, as part of President Bush’s plan to provide more support for anti-Iranian countries in the region. It would increase American military aid to Israel to about $3 billion a year.

As part of the plan, the United States is expected to sell billions of dollars worth of new weapons, including smart-bomb kits, to Egypt and some Persian Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia.

Some Israelis are nervous about providing more weapons to Saudi Arabia, but Mr. Olmert told the cabinet, “We understand the need of the United States to support the Arab moderate states, and there is a need for a united front between the U.S. and us regarding Iran.”