With Israel agreeing to exchange for Gilad Shalit’s release 1,077 prisoners, most of whom are Hamas members and many who have killed Israelis in the past, this passage takes on new meaning. This is a battle of worlds destroyed and worlds saved. Israel has clearly decided that to save one Israeli life is worth the release of 1,077 who may kill again.
One Israeli life for 1,077 Palestinian ones. This certainly makes one think about how the two sides view the sanctity of life. Israel was willing to pay an extremely high price to free one of its own. Hamas refused to release Shalit until Israel agreed to release 1,077.
It reflects the value Israel and the Jewish people attach to the sanctity of life and the commitment of Israel to those who stand in defense of the country...
It is said in Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 that
Humans were created singly, to teach you that whoever destroys a single soul, Scripture accounts it as if he had destroyed a full world; and whoever saves one soul, Scripture accounts it as if she had saved a full world.