Several days after chief Hamas terrorist Khaled Mashal, said that kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit could be freed “in a matter of days,” a Hamas member of the PA parliament on Saturday threatened that unless Israel releases over 1,400 terrorists soon, Hamas would “close the file” on Shalit. The statement was one of the most direct threats on Shalit's life ever stated by Hamas terrorists.

Mushir al Masri, a Hamas terrorist who is a member of the PA parliament in Gaza, said that Shalit's family needed to prod the government to submit to Hamas' demands. "I want to turn to the Shalit family and say: '[Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert and his associates are gambling with your son's life.' Shalit will never see the light of day, or his parents, if the Palestinian prisoners will not see theirs," he threatened.

In an interview with Sky News earlier last week, Mashal said that Shalit was alive and being treated well, and that he could be home “in a matter of days” if Israel cooperated with Hamas.