Gilad Shalit
Reproduction photo
Shalit talks: Hamas receives Israel's list of prisoners slated for release
Senior Islamist group figure says Egypt relayed list of Palestinian prisoners Jerusalem willing to free in exchange for captive soldier. Adds: Calls to resume IDF activity against Hamas won’t deter us
Hamas has received a list of 450 Palestinian prisoners Israel is willing to release in exchange for captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat reported Friday.
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A senior Hamas figure told the paper that the list was handed to Egyptian mediator Omar Suleiman on Wednesday by Israeli emissary Ofer Dekel and was then relayed to the Islamist group in Gaza.
The figure said Hamas refuses to resume the negotiations for Shalit's release until all its demands are met. According to him, Hamas is insisting that Israel free all of the prisoners that appeared on the original list drafted by the organization. The list was relayed to Israel through Egyptian mediators.
Hamas further demands that Israel make good on its commitments in the framework of the ceasefire, including the reopening of the Gaza crossings.
Al-Sharq al-Awsat quoted the Hamas source as saying that the group is also demanding that Egypt release the Hamas men its security forces arrested during the Gaza-Egypt border breach in January.
"It does not make any sense that Egypt is trying to broker a prisoner exchange deal when it has imprisoned our activists unjustifiably," he said.
The Hamas figure stressed that the organization is insisting that Israel release 450 prisoners who are serving life sentences for murdering Israeli soldiers and settlers, as well as all the female, minor, and ailing Palestinian prisoners. He said the Islamist group is also demanding that Israel release the remaining Hamas parliament members it had imprisoned.
The source said recent calls by Israeli security officials to end the agreed upon truce with the armed Palestinian organizations in Gaza and resume the military activity against Hamas would not cause the Islamist group to lower its demands.
Shalit was captured on June 25, 2006 by Palestinian terrorists during a cross-border raid on an IDF base near Gaza.
