JERUSALEM, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Monday accused some of the recent media reports over a possible prisoner exchange with Hamas of being "intentionally distorted," reported local news service Ynet.

    The past few weeks have witnessed a flurry of press coverage on local and international media suggesting that Israel and Hamas are about to seal a deal, which would see the Palestinian group release captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and the Jewish state free some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in return.

    Among the assertions and predictions are that Hamas has presented to Israel a name list of prisoners it wants back that meets Israel's criteria and that Shalit would be transferred to Egypt as early as Friday, the beginning of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.

    "Many details coming from abroad and in foreign media are being published lately, but they are not credible and some of them are even intentionally distorted," Netanyahu's office was quoted as saying, without specifying any particular information.

    "Efforts to secure Gilad Shalit's release are continuously underway, out of the media's view, and we have no intentions of commenting beyond that," added the office.

    Referring to the cause celebre on Sunday, Israel Defense Forces(IDF) Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi reaffirmed Israel's commitment to bringing Shalit back, but meanwhile warned that media reports "do not help solve the problem."

    Since Shalit was snatched by Hamas-led Palestinian militants more than three years ago, public pressure has been piling upon the Israeli government to bring him home. Yet all the attempts made so far failed to yield any results.

    Nonetheless, following his Sunday trip to Egypt, where the government has been trying to broker a prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas, Israeli President Shimon Peres said that "real progress" has been made on the matter.

    Among other indications that a deal is in the cards, a Hamas delegation reportedly travelled to Cairo on Monday for discussions on the exchange, and Shalit's family met Israel's pointman for the indirect contacts with Hamas.

    Late last week, Hamas announced that it had reached an agreement with other armed groups in Gaza to halt rocket fire at Israel in order to avoid Israel's retaliation, which also added to the looming prospect of an exchange.

    The 23-year-old soldier, who is also a French citizen, is believed to be held somewhere in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. In early October, the Jewish state released 20 Palestinian women from its jails in return for a video clip which showed that Shalit was in good health.