Hamas Says No Progress In Talks Over Prisoner Swap

Hamas has demanded the release of 1,400 prisoners including 450 long-serving inmates in exchange for Shalit.

Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas over a prisoner swap to free a captured Israeli soldier have shown little progress, a Hamas official involved in the negotiations said on Friday.

Osama al-Muzaini, a senior Hamas official close to negotiations to free Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Gaza militants in a 2006 cross-border raid, said any claims by Israel that progress had been made in the talks were "election-motivated".

A surprise deal to swap Shalit for some of the thousands of Hamas prisoners in Israel could help Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who trail right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu in polls ahead of a Feb. 10 election.

It could also be the key to clinching a long-term ceasefire deal in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip after Israel's 22-day military offensive.

Israel, which maintains a blockade of the coastal enclave, has linked a full reopening of the Gaza Strip's border crossings, a key Hamas demand in any truce, to Shalit's freedom. Israel tightened its blockade after Hamas seized the territory in 2007.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper on its website quoted Barak as saying Israel was making "supreme efforts" to secure Shalit's release. It also quoted unnamed Israeli officials as saying significant progress has been made in truce talks.

"There has been no progress in the (Shalit) file for several months and that is because (Israel) remained unwilling to pay the price," Muzaini told Reuters.

Hamas has demanded the release of 1,400 prisoners including 450 long-serving inmates in exchange for Shalit.

Muzaini said Israel had only agreed to 71 names from the list of 450 long-serving prisoners Hamas had proposed more than a year ago.

Israeli officials have said recently that following the Gaza offensive and the blow it dealt to Hamas, the Jewish state would be willing to relax its objections to the list.

Israel has repeatedly recovered both captured hostages and remains of slain soldiers from its conscript army through massively lopsided swaps.

Egypt has been trying to broker a lasting ceasefire but it still faces the difficult task of pinning down Israel and Hamas on exactly what they are willing to offer.

Exiled Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, said on Friday in Damascus Hamas had only received "vague" proposals from Egypt without an Israeli commitment to lift the Gaza blockade.

According to Hamas, Israel has offered to open Gaza's border crossings to nearly 75 percent capacity to ease shortages and hardships.

One Palestinian official said Turkey and Qatar have taken a lead role in the negotiations over Shalit in recent months.