CAIRO: Neither Egypt nor Israel knows whether an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in Gaza more than two years ago is alive, Egypt Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on Wednesday.
Egypt had tried to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas to release Gilad Shalit in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners before the Jewish state launched a three-week assault on Gaza on Dec. 27.
Whether Shalit is alive or not alive, this is a question that needs investigation now, Aboul Gheit said. I have no information and I believe the Israeli side has no information, either.
Mussa Abu Marzuk, the deputy head of Hamas politburo, told a Qatari daily on Wednesday that Israel would have to investigate whether Shalit had been wounded or killed by Israel during the offensive.
No one can talk about Shalit s case right now, he told Al-Sharq newspaper.
First, the Israelis must investigate Shalit s fate. Perhaps they hit him during their bombardment, just as they hit other [soldiers] who had been captured by our fighters, he said.
Hamas has said that it captured several soldiers during the fighting, before Israeli forces shelled them.
Israel said four of its soldiers were killed by friendly fire. Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that initial military investigations found they were killed inadvertently or after officers mistook them for Hamas gunmen.
Israel has said it will not end its blockade of Gaza – a key Hamas demand and the reason it says it launched rockets into Israel – unless there is progress on releasing Shalit.
Aboul Gheit noted the release of Shalit had been an Israeli objective when it agreed to a six-month long truce brokered in June 2008 by Egypt between the Jewish state and Hamas.
Hamas had demanded 1,400 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit. Their list included about 450 prisoners implicated in attacks against Israelis. Israel was loathe to release prisoners with blood on their hands.
Israel holds more than 11,000 Palestinian prisoners, the Palestinian Authority says.
Egyptian state-run news agency MENA quoted President Hosni Mubarak as saying in an October interview that Shalit, who was captured on the Gaza-Israel border in June 2006, was in good health and Hamas would not harm him.
Under no circumstances should he be mistreated, he said. Palestinians are not stupid. They must seriously consider what the consequences would be if they kill him, he said. -AFP
