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Hamas has said it is considering the latest proposal by Israel, to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for almost a thousand Palestinian prisoners.
The proposal for the prisoner swap was delivered by a German mediator on Wednesday.
Israel is trying to secure the release of 23-year-old Shalit who was captured in a cross-border raid from Gaza in 2006.
Israeli officials have kept silent on the terms of the proposal being offered to recover Shalit.
Earlier this week Israel's seven-member security cabinet held a series of intensive meetings to discuss the issue.
On Wednesday Eli Yishai, the Israeli security minister, reiterated his misgivings over a prisoner amnesty that could boost Hamas.
"We always say 'not at any price' because otherwise our enemies would exploit it. But on the other hand, we have to make every possible effort," Yishai told Israel's Army Radio.
"Where is the middle ground? I think any further (public) words about this would be excessive."
Speaking to Reuters Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said the group had received Israel's proposal and "will study the response".
Another unnamed Hamas official said the group planned to send a delegation from Gaza to Damascus by Thursday to meet exiled Hamas leaders for a "broader discussion" on any possible prisoner exchange.
Under the proposed swap about 1,000 of the some 11,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons would be released.
However, Reuters quoted officials familiar with the negotiations as saying Israel had ruled out releasing a handful of senior Hamas fighters serving life sentences for orchestrating lethal attacks against Israelis.
PHOTO CAPTION
A Palestinian boy attends a protest in Gaza City December 21, 2009, calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Al-Jazeera
