JERUSALEM // Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to free a captured Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, officials from both sides said last night.
The deal would bring home Sgt Gilad Schalit, who was captured in a cross-border raid in June 2006 by Palestinian militants who burrowed into Israel and dragged him into Gaza. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, convened an urgent meeting with his Cabinet to approve the deal, said an Israeli official. Hamas officials and media outlets also confirmed the deal.
The agreement would exchange Schalit, 25, for around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. The deal would be implemented within days, said Ezzat Rishq, a Hamas official.
