Egypt to launch fresh mediation between Palestinians, Israel over prisoner swap: sources

Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman will visit the Palestinian territories and Israel, in its fresh efforts to press for a prisoner swap deal between the two sides, sources said on Thursday.

Suleiman would visit the Palestinian territories and Israel to urge the Israeli government to approve a swap deal to free Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a captive Israeli soldier, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit was kidnapped in June in a cross- border raid by Palestinian militants. He has been kept captive since then.

The captors, linked to the ruling Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), demand to swap Shalit for a number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, especially women and children prisoners and jailed militant leaders.

Meanwhile, Rafah crossing point between Gaza and Egypt was opened Thursday and would remain open for another day. The crossing was sealed off since the capture of Shalit, and was only allowed occasional openings.

Israeli troops have intensified their air and ground offensives in the Gaza Strip with an aim to get Shalit released and halt militants' home-made rockets attacks on Israel. However, both sides have had no intention to stop the conflicts first.

On Wednesday morning, the Israeli army fired several artillery rounds at the town, which hit several buildings and killed 18 civilians, including women and children, and wounded 30 others, causing strong condensations from the Arab world and the international community.

Source: Xinhua