Israel has already agreed to a proposal from a German official mediating a prisoner exchange for the release of Gilad Shalit, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. The deal would free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the captured Israel Defense Forces soldier. Netanyahu made his remarks at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, less than a day after the Shalit family marked the fifth anniversary of Gilad's captivity in Gaza by chaining themselves to a railing outside the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem. "We received a proposal from the German mediator," Netanyahu said. "This proposal was harsh; it was not simple for the state of Israel. However, we agreed to accept it with the belief that it was balanced between our desire to secure Gilad's release and our desire to prevent possible harm to the lives and security of the Israeli people. As of now, we have yet to receive Hamas' official answer to the German mediator's proposal," Netanyahu said. The Shalit family didn't directly respond to Netanyahu's remarks about the deal, but held a press conference later Sunday announcing they would intensify their campaign to create public pressure to persuade the government to go ahead with a deal. "For Gilad, there is no tomorrow," Gilad's father, Noam Shalit, said. "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, you do not have the right to sentence Gilad to death. Pay the necessary price from a position of strength, not out of weakness, and bring him home today before it is too late and negotiations will begin over a coffin." Netanyahu's remarks referred not to a new proposal from the German mediator, but to the proposal that has long been on the table between Israel and Hamas, which calls for the release of 1,400 Palestinian prisoners currently in Israeli prisons. Among those released would be 450 prisoners considered terrorists with blood on their hands, 350 of which would be released to the West Bank, while the remaining 100 would be expelled to foreign countries or to the Gaza Strip. The last clause, which Israel insisted on, created an impasse with Hamas, which insists those 100 prisoners be allowed to resettle in the West Bank. Gilad Shalit "is being held by a brutal enemy, Hamas, which refuses to uphold either the minimal demands of the international treaties or humanitarian conditions," Netanyahu said. "It is holding him in harsh conditions and we know how his family is suffering." Meanwhile, Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch and Israel Prison Service Commissioner Aharon Franco have, in recent days, been discussing ways to worsen conditions for security prisoners jailed in Israeli prisons. To protest the move, Palestinian prisoners have launched a hunger strike. Netanyahu also told ministers at the cabinet meeting, "We are involved in many actions, and I do not think that this is the place to go into details, all of which are in order to bring Gilad Shalit back home, safe and sound. The state of Israel is ready to go far, more than any other country would, in order to secure Gilad's release," Netanyahu said, adding, "but it is my responsibility, and the responsibility of those who are sitting here, to see to the security and lives of the Israeli people." Hamas on Sunday vehemently denied Netanyahu's claims. "Netanyahu is lying," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. "Netanyahu's main goal is to cover up his failure to advance negotiations and to complete and implement a prisoner exchange," Abu Zuhri said, adding, "Netanyahu is fully responsible for the fact that negotiations are at an impasse. The deal has not been completed only because of his stubbornness and refusal." Senior Hamas officials claim there has been no recent contact between the two sides and that the German mediator has not made them a concrete offer. "The indirect negotiations for a prisoner exchange with Israel has been at a standstill for some time," a Gaza official told Palestinian news agencies. "There are no indirect negotiations at this time, not through Egyptian or any other mediators," the official added.
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PM: Israel accepted mediator's offer, Hamas has not responded
At the height of the campaign calling on the government to accept a prisoner swap, Prime Minister Netanyahu reveals Israel has accepted a proposed deal, but Hamas has yet to officially respond • Hamas: Netanyahu is lying, talks are at an impasse.