Hamas leaders deny knowledge of deal for Israeli soldier

Image of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on Hamas poster

Amid reports of a breakthrough in negotiations to release an Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas for more than five years, Hamas leaders have contacted WND to say they know nothing of any deal.

The Middle East satellite network Al Arabiyya reported that Egyptian mediators have made a breakthrough in the case of Gilad Shalit. The Israeli staff sergeant, the report said, could be released as early as November in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

The Hamas members told WND, however, that they are not aware of any new developments.

They said they have not changed their demand that all Palestinian prisoners must be released before Shalit can be set free.

Normally, a deal of this magnitude would be negotiated abroad, and WND found that top members of Hamas are currently in the Gaza Strip.

Several top Hamas leaders, however, including Ahmad Jabril, did travel abroad two weeks ago.

The New York Times reported that the Israeli government was due to meet in emergency session today to discuss a proposed prisoner exchange for Shalit.

Shalit, just 19 at the time, was seized and taken into Gaza in a cross-border raid by Hamas and other Palestinian jihadist groups in June 2006.

Numerous reports over the past five years have claimed breakthroughs in the Shalit negotiations.

In 2009, a flurry of news reports claiming a deal had been reached that would free Shalit within days was downplayed by Hamas' chief political adviser in Gaza in a WND interview.

"There is a lot of media hype and exaggeration about the situation," Ahmed Yousef said at the time. "I don't think we are close to striking a deal the way you hear it in the media.

"There are issues that still need to be discussed on both sides," he said.

At the time of the 2009 Yousef interview, a source in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office told WND that Hamas' prisoner exchange list was the major obstacle to reaching a deal for Shalit. The source said that due to the objectionable names on the list, it would be a "miracle" if a deal could be reached within days.

As WND reported in June 2006, Israeli defense leaders called the terror operation that captured Shalit and killed two Israeli soldiers "stunning" and "well-orchestrated."

Israeli security officials told WND at the time that they had information indicating the terrorists who carried out the attack were trained by Iranian Revolutionary Guard units and Hezbollah guerrillas.

Senior Palestinian security officials linked to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party told WND that Hamas and other Gaza-based groups had been receiving advanced military training by Iran and Hezbollah in the months leading up to the attack.

In the attack, eight terrorists used a half-mile tunnel they dug to infiltrate behind Israel's Kerem Shalom military station, which is on the Israeli side of the Gaza border.

Soldiers at the border usually monitor the Gaza Strip and not the Israeli side, where the tunnel exit was located.

Upon exiting the tunnel, the Palestinian terrorists split into three cells. On lobbed more than 20 anti-tank missiles at an army tank; another attacked the tank with grenades, killing 2 Israeli soldiers and kidnapping a third. A final cell attacked and nearly overtook an army lookout post.

Two terrorists were killed during the raid, while the others escaped back into Gaza with the kidnapped soldier. The army was not aware one of its troops had been kidnapped until several minutes after the operation.