One of the three Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip holding captured Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit, said on Saturday that it expected a solution to the crisis within days. The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) said in a statement, cited by Reuters, that the three groups had agreed on an Egyptian proposal for the release of Shalit that would also see an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel. The PRC said the deal now depended on Israel.
On Saturday the Arabic-language newspaper A-Sharq alawsat reported that Israel agreed to release Palestinian prisoners at the same time that Hamas frees Shalit, as part of a proposed prisoner exchange.
According to the report, Egypt got an approval for this by the Israeli government. Altogether, some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners would be released in the exchange.
