Israel-Hamas prisoner swap talks collapse due to demands by Gaza — report

Reported negotiations for a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas have failed, a source from the Gaza ruling group tells The Independent’s Arabic-language news site.

The unnamed official says the talks broke down due after Hamas increased its demands to include the release of 1,500 security prisoners held by Israel. The report says that Israel considers at least 500 of them to have “blood on their hands,” meaning they are serving long sentences for their direct involvement in carrying out attacks against Israelis.

The 1,500 included all the Palestinians who have been rearrested since they were freed in 2011 as part of a deal in which Israel exchanged 1,027 terrorists for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured and held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip or five years.

The report says Israeli officials rejected the demands as too high for the return of two Israeli civilians and the remains of two IDF soliders killed in Gaza in 2014 war that are being held by Hamas.

Last month, the London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper quoted a Hamas source who said Israel was looking to complete a prisoner swap deal before national elections on April 9.

The official said indirect talks with Israel had been renewed “amid a strong willingness to reach a deal ahead of the elections, in light of the drop in support of [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu in the polls.”

A Hamas spokesman later denied the report.