Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu denied a deal for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit was close at hand. "We are not looking at a breakthrough tomorrow or the next day," he said. “News reports saying otherwise are based on hearsay and exaggerations."
Arab news services have reported that a German negotiated deal to free Shalit is almost complete. Meanwhile the German weekly Der Spiegel claims that Berlin had set the beginning of September as a deadline for a Hamas to respond to a proposed deal.