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Israel-Hamas prisoner swap deal near

CAIRO: Israel has softened its terms for a prisoner swap with Hamas and the two enemies are nearing a deal to exchange hundreds of Palestinian inmates for an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip, officials said on Monday. A delegation from Hamas, the group that controls the Gaza Strip, crossed into Egypt for a planned meeting with Egyptian security officials in Cairo to discuss the deal that Egypt and Germany have been mediating. Officials close to the talks said Israel had agreed to include in the exchange for the soldier, Gilad Shalit, some 160 prisoners whose release it had previously vetoed. Shalit was captured by Palestinian militants who tunnelled into Israel from the Gaza Strip in 2006. "The Shalit episode is about to be closed," one of the officials said. Sources on both sides told Reuters there were hopes that a deal might be struck by the end of the week, when the Muslim festival of Eidul Azha begins. In Jerusalem, Israeli government officials declined to comment on prospects for a deal with Hamas. Separately, Shalit’s family met senior Israeli government officials on Monday. Shalit's parents went to the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv and met Hagai Hadas, Israel's pointman in the indirect talks with the Hamas rulers of Gaza over a prisoner exchange. agencies

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