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Gaza: Hamas has handed over the names of Palestinian prisoners it demands Israel release in exchange for an Israeli soldier seized by Gaza gunmen 10 months ago, the Islamist group said yesterday.
"These names have been presented to the Egyptian [mediators], who in turn have presented it to the Israeli side," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said. "There is a clear progress in the fact a list of names has been presented."
But an Israeli cabinet minister and a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah faction cautioned against assuming a deal was imminent.
Barhoum gave no numbers or names. Israeli media reports said the roster listed about 1,300 prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti, a Fatah leader widely seen as a possible successor to the moderate Abbas.
Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit was seized last June by militants from Hamas and two other armed groups who tunnelled into Israel from Gaza.
An exchange deal, after months of deadlock, could be key to any progress in talks Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas have agreed to hold on a biweekly basis at the urging of the United States.
For Palestinians, freedom for brethren in Israeli jails - especially long-serving prisoners - is a highly emotive issue. Olmert has accused Abbas of failing to deliver on promises to secure Shalit's release.
Abbas and Hamas formed a unity government on March 17.
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