"A deal to secure the release of Gilad Shalit is almost closed," said Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh at Monday's PA cabinet meeting. Cairo Radio reported that a Hamas delegation from Syria was due to arrive in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials about a possible prisoner swap in exchange for the release of Shalit. | Hamas representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan said that Israel had not yet agreed to the kidnappers' demands but that there were "positive signs." |
"If Egyptian mediation fails Hamas will still try to solve the issue but wont change its demands," Hamdan told BBC Arabic. He said that the delegation in Cairo will try to "clarify the Israeli stance on the issue."
| PA spokesman Ghazi Hamed said that Israel was being "stubborn" but that the general framework of a prisoner swap deal had been agreed upon. |
Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy leader of Hamas' political bureau in Syria, said the delegation will be headed by Imad al-Alami, Hamas' representative in Syria, who will meet with Egypt's chief of intelligence, Omar Suleiman, to talk about the soldier and the formation of a Palestinian national unity government. Abu Marzouk said Hamas' political leader, Khaled Mashaal, who lives in exile in Syria, would not be attending the talks.