Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations    

    JERUSALEM, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak Tuesday said the ceasefire between Gaza and Israel gives the negotiations for the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit a chance to succeed, local website Ynet reported.

    "The ministerial committee is working to relax the criteria (for a prisoner release)...This is also important for the soldier’s release," Barak was quoted as saying while touring an IDF artillery base in southern Israel.

    The defense minister said that he was optimistic regarding the resumption of the indirect talks with Hamas, but added that "this time they will be held under embargo, in order to give them a chance to succeed."

    Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was abducted by Palestinian militants in June 2006 and is believed to be held somewhere in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Hamas demanded through Egyptian mediators to free 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in addition to all jailed women, children and old in exchange for Shalit.

    Barak added that "not one day goes by without my thinking about him and without our working on this issue, which is at the core of our responsibility."

    In June, Egypt brokered a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel to restore calm and ease the siege Israel imposed on Gaza to isolate Hamas since 2007.