A Norwegian defense official met last week with Hamas officials in Gaza, the Chinese Xinhua media outlet reported Tuesday night. The Norwegian official spoke with the Hamas terrorists regarding the possibility for his and other European countries’ receiving prisoners to be released by Israel in exchange for the captured soldier Gilad Shalit. The talks dealt with the number of prisoners to be expelled to Europe.

According to the report, the Norwegian talks began after Germany made efforts to broker a prisoner exchange between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization.