GAZA, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Hamas is reluctant to discuss a prisoner exchange deal with Israel after the killing of a Hamas commander in Dubai last month and would decide whether to suspend the indirect talks later, a Gaza-based Hamas official said on Tuesday.
"The circumstances are not suitable now to continue the prisoner exchange negotiations; we can't say the talks have stopped, but the movement may decide later on whether stopping or keeping the talks," Ayman Taha, a Hamas official, told Xinhua.
On Friday, Hamas announced that Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a commander involved in kidnapping and killing two Israeli soldiers in late 1980s in Gaza, was killed by an electric shock and strangling in his room at a Dubai hotel shortly after his arrival from Damascus.
Hamas accused Israel's intelligence service, known as Mossad, of being behind the killing of al-Mabhouh.
Meanwhile, Taha said that the talks between Hamas and Israel, mediated by Germany, "are making slow progress" following the latest exchange of offers between the two sides in December.
Taha also blamed Israel for delaying the swap in which Hamas would free Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held hostage in Gaza since 2006, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian and Arab prisoners.
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Hamas vows to retaliate for assassination of top Hamas militant
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| Palestinian mourners attend the funeral of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, one of the founders of the Islamic movement's armed wing known as Izzedein al-Qassam Brigades, in Damascus, Syria, Jan. 29, 2010. Hamas vowed on Friday to retaliate the assassination of its top military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai after it blamed Israel for his death. (Xinhua/Bassem Mohamad) |
DAMASCUS, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Hamas vowed on Friday to retaliate the assassination of its top military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai after it blamed Israel for his death. Full story
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