By DPA
Damascus : Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier abducted by Palestinian militants more than a year ago, is still alive and in good health, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said in this Syrian capital.
Hamas, one of the groups that snatched Salit, was trying to affect a prisoner exchange with the Israeli government through an Egyptian negotiator, the movement’s politburo chief said in an interview with US broadcaster CNN during the night from Friday to Saturday.
In the interview, which CNN claims is the first with a Western media broadcaster in two years, Mashaal said Hamas had already presented Israel with a list of 350 prisoners it wanted released in exchange for Shalit.
On the list was Marwan Barghouti, a senior leader in President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement, Hamas’ often bitter rival.
Militants in Palestine published the first proof of life for Shalit in June on a website belonging to the Hamas military wing.
Shalit was heard calling on the Israeli government to fulfil his abductors’ demands.
Shalit was taken on June 25, 2006 when Palestinian militants attacked an Israeli military checkpoint near the Gaza Strip. It is suspected that he has been held in the Gaza Strip since then.