Hamas ‘have agreed to conditional release of Israeli soldier’
Palestinian militants have agreed to a conditional release of the kidnapped Israeli soldier, but Israel has not yet accepted their terms, according to Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
In an interview with Egypt’s leading pro-government newspaper, Al-Ahram, Mubarak said: “Egyptian contacts with several Hamas leaders resulted in preliminary, positive results in the shape of a conditional agreement to hand over the Israeli soldier as soon as possible to avoid an escalation.
“But agreement on this has not yet been reached with the Israeli side.”
The president said he had asked Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert “not to hurry” the military offensive in Gaza, but to “give additional time to find a peaceful solution to the problem of the kidnapped soldier”.
Israel suspended a planned ground invasion of northern Gaza today, giving diplomacy another chance to free the Israeli soldier, Cpl Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by militants linked to Hamas from an Israeli camp near Gaza on Sunday.
Mubarak’s remark implied he was claiming a role in Israel’s decision.
But in Jerusalem, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, Gideon Meir, said Israel did not know of such an offer.
Reached tonight, Meir told The Associated Press Israel would have no comment until daybreak.
“In general Israel’s stance is, as the prime minister said earlier, that the soldier will only be released unconditionally and there will be no negotiations with a gang of terrorists and criminals who abducted a soldier from Israeli territory,” Meir said.
Hamas leaders in Gaza were not answering their phones tonight.
“Israeli leaders promised, and I hope they will stick to it, not to shed the blood of innocent Palestinian civilians in any hurried military operation,” Mubarak said.
“At the same time, Egypt warned Hamas leaders of the dire consequences of adopting of tough positions and urged them to shoulder their responsibilities in view of the dangers and difficulties faced by the Palestinian people at the present time,” Mubarak said.
In a bid to force the release of the soldier on Wednesday, Israeli aircraft blasted two bridges and a power station in Gaza, cutting off electricity for the southern part of the territory, and deployed tanks and thousands of troops near the southern town of Rafah.
Today, Israeli aircraft and artillery pounded sites across Gaza, hitting suspected weapons factories, an electrical transformer and militant training camps.
No deaths or serious injuries have been reported since the operation began.
