Hamas: We have powerful cards to force Israel to free prisoners

Hamas said on Monday that Israel must release Palestinians it re-arrested after they were released in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange agreement if it wants to reach a new prisoner swap deal.

Israel has re-arrested dozens of former prisoners who were released under the terms of the 2011 agreement between Israel and Hamas. The deal saw the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists during a cross-border raid near the Kerem Shalom border crossing on June 25, 2006.

Israeli authorities say that many of the released prisoners had resumed terrorism activity, either by joining Hamas or recruiting members to terror cells in the West Bank.

The Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper Al-Akhbar claimed on Monday that indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas to reach a new prisoner deal have achieved “significant progress.”

The newspaper, however, quoted “sources in the Palestinian resistance” in the Gaza Strip as saying that “despite the clear progress in this file, there’s fear that this progress is not real.”

The sources expressed fear that the purported progress was part of an Israeli attempt to divert attention from the plan to apply Israeli sovereignty to parts of the West Bank. The sources expressed fear that the talk about progress was also designed to show that Hamas was engaged in negotiations with Israel despite its recent threats regarding the annexation plan.

Hamas is believed to be holding the bodies of IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Shaul Aaron, who went missing during the 2014 Gaza war. In addition, Hamas is also believed to be holding two Israeli citizens who entered the Gaza Strip on their own: Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayyed.

Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif Qanou said that the release of the ex-prisoners who were arrested after they were freed in the Shalit deal was a precondition for launching negotiations to reach a new prisoner exchange agreement.

“The Palestinian resistance holds powerful cards to release Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons and compel the occupation to submit to its demands,” Qanou said. He called on the Egyptians to intervene and pressure Israel to abide by the terms of the [Shalit] deal and release the prisoners who were rearrested.