CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak said the number of Palestinian prisoners Israel is ready to release in exchange for a captured soldier is higher than expected, the official MENA news agency reported Monday. Egyptian contacts and efforts are progressing, and according to the outline of the agreement, which has not yet been finalized, the soldier will be freed in exchange for the release of a large number of Palestinian women and children, Mubarak was quoted as saying. Israel will then release Palestinian prisoners in three stages, MENA quoted him as saying, without specifying a number. Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit was captured on June 25 during an attack by Palestinian militants on a border post in the southern Gaza Strip. His seizure was claimed by three groups, including the armed wing of the governing Hamas. Israeli media reports have estimated the number of Palestinians who could be released as part of a swap at between 600 and 800. The Israeli side has shown readiness to release a higher number than what had been expected, Mubarak added. Egypt, together with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, has been involved in diplomatic efforts to secure the release of the Israeli conscript, whose capture led to a military offensive against the Gaza Strip. An Israeli government spokesman told AFP Monday that Israel was ready to reciprocate immediately if Shalit was freed, and if a new Palestinian unity government accepts Western conditions for resuming financial aid. If the Palestinian leadership takes the right steps, Israel would immediately take the right steps to strengthen that, Foreign Ministry spokesman Marc Regev said. But Israeli officials also warned against hopes of an imminent release and stressed that no agreement had yet been reached. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, from the Islamist movement Hamas, said Saturday that efforts to secure the release of the Israeli soldier were making progress. AFP
Mubarak says Israel could free many Palestinians
