Head of Hamas’s political bureau Ismail Haneyya has said that some parties and mediators contacted his Movement and explored avenues of making steps for a prisoner swap deal with the Israeli occupation government.
“We have offered what could be a real key to this issue and we demanded the release of the elderlies patients children women and the prisoners of the Shalit deal so that we can enter into a new negotiation process” Haneyya said on Friday in an interview conducted with him by al-Arabi Television.
He pointed out that al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas was able in 2014 to capture four Israeli soldiers expressing his Movement’s readiness to engage in indirect talks over a new swap deal.
The Hamas official also talked about the relationship with Saudi Arabia following the detention of Palestinian residents in the country saying that “historically the relationship with the kingdom was good and strong but the truth is that the current situation we are dealing with now is unfortunate and painful and contradicts all the Arab norms towards the Palestinian cause.”
“The detention of more than 60 Palestinians in Saudi prisons for only providing support for their own people is very unfortunate” the Hamas official said.
“We have communicated directly and I sent more than one message to the custodian of the two Holy Mosques. We also talked to the competent authorities and international mediators in order to end this matter and we are still making efforts in this regard” he added.
