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Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday that freeing Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier would be a "major mistake". Referring to Hamas, Olmert added that there can be no negotiations with the "bloody organisation." In Damascus, Hamas political leader, Khaled Mashaal, said that Israeli soldier Corporal Gilad Shalit would not be freed without a prisoner swap. Shalit was captured on June 25, triggering Israeli military attacks in Gaza that has killed more than 54 Palestinians in weeks. Olmert has defended his army's offensive, saying Israel had "no choice" but to launch it in order to free Shalit and stop Palestinian militant fire into Israel.
He declined to give a timetable for the operation, but said: "We're talking about a war that will continue for a long time and it is complicated."
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