The claim, announced publicly by Abu Mujahed, PRC (Popular Resistance Committee) spokesperson, is based on an Egyptian proposal advocating a prisoner swap deal with Israel.
"Progress has been made, and it is possible that we will know the extent of that progress in just a few more days," said Abu Mujahed, adding, "There is an Egyptian proposal that would include the release of our Palestinian prisoners and we agreed on this proposal. We expect a solution to our prisoners case in the near future."
Egyptian negotiators have been working to iron out a deal that would result in Shalit's release. Israeli cabinet minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer has made statements advising Israel to accept the Egyptian proposal, however Israeli diplomatic sources stated that they had no official knowledge of progress to secure the release of the kidnapped soldier.
The diplomatic sources claim that Israel is willing to consider the release of approximately one hundred Palestinian prisoners only after Shalit's release is secured, while Palestinian groups are calling for simultaneous release of their prisoners and Shalit.
Osama al-Muzaini, Hamas spokesperson, stated on Saturday that "real progress has been made over the issue of Shalit, but that progress did not get to the point where we can say a swap was imminent." Egyptian officials and Mashaal's deputy Moussa Abu Marzouk denied an earlier report that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, planned to go to Egypt from Syria to take part in the ongoing negotiations.
Egyptian police deployed twice the number of forces they had posted along Gaza's Philadelphi route, totaling some 1,500 officers, as a response to Israel's push to increase efforts to block the smuggling of weapons into Gaza.