(AKI) - Militant ruling Palestinian group Hamas is said to have accepted Israel's offer of 450 Palestinian prisoners in the second stage of a planned deal to free captured Israeli private Gilad Shalit - who is believed to have been held by militants since his abduction in a cross-border raid on 25 June. Palestinian sources were reported to have told Israeli daily Haaretz that under the terms of the proposed accord, Hamas would supply Israel with a a video showing that Shalit is alive. Israel would then release an as-yet undecided number of women and minors held in its jails. In the next phase of the deal, 20-year-old Shalit would be transferred to Israel via Egypt and Israel would simultaneously release the 450 Palestinian prisoners. In a final phase of the accord, some two months later, Israel would free a "generous" number of additional prisoners, according to Haaretz sources. Israel would be authorised to decide both how many and which prisoners to free at this stage, Haaretz reported.
Hamas will transfer to Israel, via Egypt, a list of prisoners it wishes to see freed which includes senior figures in the group's political and military wings, as well as members of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah group, such as Marwan Barghouti.
Israel has not, however, yet agreed to the list of names, and a dispute over which prisoners will be released could delay the process further, Haaretz said. The proposed deal was put together in meetings between top Egyptian intelligence officials and Hamas' political leader, Khaled Meshal, Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh in Saudi Arabia and in a separate meeting with Abbas in Gaza, Haaretz said.