A deal between Israel and Hamas on the exchange of over 1,000 jailed Palestinians for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will begin on Tuesday, a spokesman for the militant group Committees of People’s Resistance that was involved in Shalit’s seizure along with Hamas said.
The spokesman said that within the swap deal Israel would hand Palestinian prisoners over to Egypt, who would later be transferred to the Gaza Strip.
“When we receive the signal that all 450 people [the first group of prisoners] are released, Shalit will be sent to Egypt,” the spokesman said without elaborating on the details of the release operation.
Shalit, a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, was captured in June 2006 by Palestinian militants in a raid near the Gaza Strip.
Earlier this week Tel Aviv agreed to release 1,027 Palestinians sitting in Israeli prisons in exchange for Shalit. The first group of 450 prisoners will be released on Tuesday, the remaining will be freed in two months.
