The second and final phase of the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas is expected to take place within 20 days, a Hamas official was quoted telling Palestinian media on Thursday. Speaking with paltoday, a Palestinian online news portal, deputy head of Hamas' Damascus-based political bureau, Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzouk, confirmed Wednesday that Egypt has assured his organization that Israel will comply with all provisions of the deal. According to Marzouk, Israel will soon free the remaining 550 prisoners it vowed to release in the final phase of the exchange for Israeli soldier Sgt. First Class Gilad Shalit, who was in Hamas captivity for more than five years. Shalit was abducted by the Islamic terrorist group in a 2006 cross-border raid while stationed near the Gaza Strip, and was reunited with his family last month. Meanwhile, Egyptian media reported this week that an Israeli envoy recently visited Egypt to finalize the logistical details for the final part of the deal. Israel agreed to release 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in the deal that was announced on Oct. 11, 2011. The first phase of the Egyptian- and German-mediated agreement was carried out on Oct. 18, when Hamas handed over Shalit to Egyptian authorities at the Rafah Crossing, while Israel simultaneously released 477 prisoners from its jails. The agreement stipulated that a second group of prisoners would be released 60 days after the first phase was carried out. The majority of the Palestinian prisoners were sent to the Gaza Strip, but a handful were allowed into the West Bank or relocated elsewhere. The agreement was made possible after Israel and Hamas broke the almost five-year impasse over the identity of the prisoners to be released and the locations to which they would be released. The deal was ultimately sealed after Israel agreed to increase the number of prisoners released and drop some key demands, while Hamas agreed to keep its most notorious figures behind bars or deport them. According to reports in Israeli media, the post-Hosni Mubarak Egyptian regime was highly instrumental in persuading Hamas to accept the terms of the agreement. Israeli President Shimon Peres must pardon each prisoner before he or she is officially released, but Peres has already said he supports the deal. Despite multiple petitions filed by relatives of terrorist victims killed by the freed prisoners, the High Court of Justice refused to intervene in the first phase of the deal. The court is unlikely to intervene in the second phase, as it has traditionally viewed matters pertaining to treaties and prisoner swaps as political in nature.
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