Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told reporters in Rome that he knew noting of reports that kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit was to be transferred to Egypt within a matter of hours. The Arab news agency Ma’an reported of Shalit’s release a short time earlier.
Sources in Israel also denied the report. A senior Arab source told Yediot Aharonot that progress had been made on a prisoner exchange deal, but Shalit’s release is not immediate.