Egypt Confirms Israel-Palestine Prisoners Swap Deal
By Ria Novosti
Egypt has confirmed a deal between Israel and Hamas on the exchange of some 1,000 jailed Palestinians and Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, the Egyptian MENA news agency reported on Wednesday.
“The Egyptian intelligence applied great efforts being in contact with Hamas and Israel… and managed to reach a deal, which is expected to be implemented with a week,” the agency said.
The agency added that some of the jailed Palestinians to be released have been sentenced to serve long terms in Israeli prisons.
Israel Defense Forces Soldier Shalit was seized in June 2006 by Palestinian militants while on patrol near the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinians have demanded the release from Israeli prisons of nearly 1,000 of their men in exchange for Shalit.
