Palestinian Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Ashraf al-Ajrami denied on Saturday knowledge of details of talks between Israel and Hamas on a prisoner exchange deal over captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has no role in the expected swap, al-Ajrami said, adding Hamas and some Arab mediators, mainly from Egypt and Qatar, were involved in the debates.
He further explained that Israeli officials had met imprisoned Hamas leaders to discuss retrieving the captive Israeli soldier in Gaza as part of a prisoner exchange deal.
On Friday, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza said the indirect talks with Israel have made some headway.
Hamas demands a release of 1,000 prisoners in addition to women, children, old and leaders of factions as Israel holds more than 11,000 Palestinians in its jails.
Hamas and two other factions kidnapped Shalit in 2006 from his base outside the Gaza Strip.
Source:Xinhua
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