A senior Hamas official, Mahmoud A-Zahar, offered rare praise for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Saturday. A-Zahar said that Netanyahu has worked continuously to secure the freedom of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

Netanyahu's behavior is a change from that of his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, who would “disappear for months,” A-Zahar said in an interview with an Israeli Arab news site.

Shalit was kidnapped in 2006 as he patrolled near Gaza. Hamas claims to have the captive soldier, and has demanded the release of more than 1,000 terrorist prisoners in exchange for his freedom.