Hamas: We presented mediators with framework for prisoner swap, received no reply

Hamas said yesterday that it had presented mediators a framework for a potential prisoner swap with Israel but it has not received a reply, Anadolu reported.

Member of Hamas’ Political Bureau Zaher Jabarin said the movement “is ready to carry out a prisoner swap as soon as possible.”

He said that his movement did not receive “a positive reply” for its proposal. He gave no more details. “Our hands are extended to reach a deal,” he added.

Jabarin dismissed Israeli reports about an eminent agreement on a prisoner swap, noting that “the Israeli occupation practices an operation of misinformation in front of the Israeli audience to show that the soldiers are to be released at a price. This is impossible.”

He also said that the Palestinian resistance succeeded in separating the issue of the prisoner swap from the issue of the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and easing the Israeli siege on the enclave.

While Israel holds about 4,850 Palestinians prisoners, including 41 women, 225 minors and 540 administrative detainees, the Palestinian resistance holds four Israeli prisoners of war, including two soldiers captured during the 51-day Israeli offensive on Gaza in 2014.

Poll: 80% of Palestinians call for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resign