A senior Hamas official told Reuters on Thursday that Israel has given the group a new list of prisoners that it would be willing to release in exchange for kidnapped Israeli Gilad Shalit. The list includes three senior terrorists that Israel had previously refused to release, he said.
Earlier in the day, the Hizbullah station A-Manar reported “major progress” in talks for an exchange.
On Friday morning, the pan-Arab daily Al Hayat reported progress as well, and said Hamas is willing to be more flexible in its demands. Hamas is ready to agree that some terrorists convicted of multiple counts of murder be deported following their release, the paper said.