Hamas, or Islamic Resistance Movement, pledged on Thursday not to make concessions on the demands it presented for exchanging an Israeli soldier with a number of Palestinian prisoners.
Osama al-Muzini, a representative of Hamas in the frozen talks, said the captors of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit will not accept the release of less than 1,000 Palestinians of high sentences in exchange for Shalit.
Egyptian mediators left Gaza Strip after Hamas seized control of Gaza Strip in mid-June, suspending the indirect talks between the Palestinian factions that hold the soldier and Israel.
Before the talks deadlocked, al-Muzini clarified that they have reached an agreement with Israel to swap the captives in three phases, starting when the soldier gets out from his Gaza hideout and ending when he is back to his home.
"But the enemy has rejected the list we presented for the first stage and asked us to modify some 350 names," al-Muzini said, underlining that the captors will stick to their demands.
Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and the army of Islam seized Shalit in a cross-border raid in his base in southeast Gaza Strip in June 2006.
Source: Xinhua
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