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Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas has said that Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by militants in a June 25 cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip, will be freed soon.
“The issue of Palestinian prisoners will be settled soon, and their release — accompanied by that of the Israeli soldier — will take place soon,” he told journalists at Al-Arish airport in the northern Sinai on Thursday.
“Pressure must continue to be exerted on Israel to close this file as quickly as possible so the Palestinian prisoners and the Israeli soldier can be freed,” Haniya added.
Egypt has been mediating Shalit's release in exchange for freeing Palestinian prisoners, mainly women and children, held in Israel.
Shalit's capture sparked a major Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip that left hundreds of Palestinians dead.
Haniya, on his way to Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj pilgrimage, said he would discuss with Saudi officials “developments on the Palestinian stage and in particular continuing the truce between Palestinian factions and the end of inter-Palestinian fighting.”
Clashes between supporters of the Western-boycotted Islamist Hamas government and the moderate Fatah faction of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas killed at least 15 people earlier this month before a fragile truce came into effect.
