Hamas: Egypt says prisoner deal second phase on track

Egyptian officials confirmed Israel will carry out the second stage of a prisoner release deal according to the agreement they brokered between Hamas and Israel, the Hamas leader charged with overseeing the swap said Sunday. Sheikh Salah al-Aruri said Egypt was pressing Israel to release the remaining 10 female detainees in Israeli jail shortly, before the two month deadline for the next group of prisoners to be freed, Hamas-affiliated news site Palestine Information Center reported. Israel and Egypt are scheduled to meet presently to discuss the next stage of the deal, which first saw 477 Palestinians released from Israeli jail on Oct. 18 in exchange for captured soldier Gilad Shalit. In the second phase of the agreement, Israel will release 550 further prisoners in two months, a process Hamas officials say has been guaranteed by Egypt. Aruri said ongoing discussions would address remaining grievances about the deal's implementation, including the continuing solitary confinement of Palestinians in Israeli prison, and the block on traveling outside the West Bank for families of the freed prisoners. A report by the Ministry of Detainees Affairs in Ramallah on Saturday said that prisoners in Israeli jails have not noticed any improvement in conditions since a prisoner exchange deal was reached. Prisoners Minister Issa Qaraqe said that 29 relatives of freed prisoners were barred from exiting the West Bank perform the Hajj pilgrimage during Eid al-Adha. The Hamas official also denied media reports that Israel would seek to boost President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party by releasing his affiliates, after the return of prisoners in October was regarded as a political coup by rival party Hamas. "The next group of prisoners is supposed to be balanced in terms of affiliations," Aruri emphasized. Also Sunday, a senior Egyptian official quoted on Israel Radio said contacts between Israel and Egypt are ongoing to finalize the second stage of the prisoners deal, as well as secure the release of Israeli Bedouin Odeh Tarabin who was imprisoned in Egypt in 2000 on spying charges.