Jerusalem – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that a deal has been reached to free a captured Israeli soldier, but details still have to be worked out.
Abbas said in an interview with Israel TV that “we agreed recently on a framework” for freeing the soldier “in agreement with the Egyptians, and this process is happening quickly.”
Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
The soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, was captured in late June when Hamas-affiliated gunmen tunneled under the border between Gaza and Israel and attacked an army base, setting off weeks of Israeli reprisals. Two soldiers were killed in the raid.
Abbas, of the moderate Fatah party, has been working with Egypt to win the soldier’s release and has often said that a deal was imminent.
The militants have demanded freedom for large numbers of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in exchange for the soldier.
