Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya said Friday that he was working hard to free an Israeli soldier in a bid to end the hostage crisis.

"We are working with the president (Mahmoud Abbas) and our Egyptian brothers in order to end this case in a suitable and proper way," though Israel complicated the situation by escalating a military operation, Haneya said.

He urged the Israeli side to stop the ground incursion and air strikes against the Gaza Strip.

Heneya made the remarks while preaching in a Gaza mosque, his first public address since Israel began its offensive into the Gaza Strip early Wednesday.

An Israeli soldier was abducted in an attack launched by eight Palestinian militants from three armed groups on an Israeli army post near Kerem Shalom crossing on the Gaza-Israel border on Sunday.

Israeli troops launched an operation dubbed "Summer Rains" against the Gaza Strip early Wednesday in a bid to rescue a soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants.

The operation is the first major Israeli military ground move in the Gaza Strip since Israel quit the desert coastal strip last summer after 38 years of occupation.

During the speech, Heneya vowed to be steadfast despite of Israeli detention of his ministers and lawmakers, saying his government will not fall.

"When Israel arrested our ministers, they meant to hijack the government's position, but we say ... our government will not fall, " he stressed.

Heneya accused the Israeli operation of aiming to topple his Hamas-led government, saying that "the whole operation is a proof of an Israeli premeditated plan."

The Israel Defense Forces arrested 87 Hamas ministers, parliamentarians and militants in an abrupt raid in East Jerusalem and the West Bank on Thursday, intending to seize more Hamas officials.

The detainees included eight ministers of the Hamas-led cabinet and 20 lawmakers.

The Palestinian prime minister, meanwhile, called for the Palestinian people to be patient, saying that "we have to be patient in the face of this unholy alliance", which "wants our people to bow and this government to weaken".

Source: Xinhua