JERUSALEM (AFP) — The head of the Israeli parliament's foreign affairs committee on Monday linked the possiblity of a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip to the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
"There are primary interests which guide Israel, and first among them is that Gilad Shalit must be freed," Tsahi Hanegbi said on public radio when asked about a proposed Gaza truce.
Hanegbi's comments came ahead of a visit to Jerusalem by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to present to Israeli leaders a truce proposal for Gaza, which has already been approved by the Islamist Hamas movement and other Palestinian factions.
The Israeli lawmaker also named other conditions that should be met in any truce accord and said talks with the Egyptian mediator would be "difficult".
"Secondly, any agreement must stipulate that Hamas cannot continue to resupply" its armaments from Egypt's Sinai peninsula, he said.
"Finally, any accord must state that the activities of all (armed) Palestinian groups must cease.... We have difficult talks ahead of us with Egypt," he said.
Shalit, 21, was captured in June 2006 on Israeli territory near the border with Gaza by three armed groups, including a branch of Hamas, which controls the territory since ousting the forces of moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas nearly a year ago.
The soldier's father, Noam Shalit, said on public radio it would be "unthinkable" that a truce deal with Hamas would not stipulate Shalit's release.
Until now, Israeli leaders have been sceptical about Hamas's intentions, suspecting the Islamists of wanting a time-out in the conflict in order to rearm.
Twelve armed Palestinian groups have signed off on the Eygptian truce proposal, which also has the approval of the two main Palestinian political factions, Hamas and Abbas's Fatah.
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