Special report: Israel launches Gaza assault

    RAMALLAH, July 1 (Xinhua) -- A senior Palestinian official revealed on Saturday that the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants last Sunday is wounded in his stomach, but still alive.

    Zeyad Abu Ein, a deputy to the Palestinian minister for prisoners' affairs revealed the news in a news conference held here in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

    He told the reporters that the information he received have come from a local doctor who visited the soldier.

    He added that his ministry received information from the doctor in Gaza that the Israeli soldier was shot with three bullets in stomach, but his conditions are stable.

    Abu Ein, who is also a senior Fatah movement's leader, didn't mention the name of the doctor and didn't give any more specific details on the location of the kidnappers and the Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip.

    Three Palestinian militant groups, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades which is an armed wing of the Palestinian ruling Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and the Islamic Army, claimed the abduction of the Israeli soldier during a cross-border raid on an Israeli army post near the Gaza border last Sunday.

    In a joint statement named "Military Statement Number Two" issued on early Saturday, they demanded Israel to release 1,000 prisoners held in Israeli jails.

    Israel has already rejected the militants' demand. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said: "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has reiterated that there will be no deals, that either Shalit will be released or we will act to bring about his release."

    Israeli troops continued a broad ground offensive in Gaza on early Saturday in a bid to rescue Shalit.

    It is the first major Israeli military ground operation in the Gaza Strip since Israel pulled out soldiers and settlers from it last summer after 38 years of occupation. Enditem