A senior Hamas leader disclosed Sunday that he did not have enough information about the whereabouts of an Israeli soldier seized by Palestinian militants in 2006, and said "he might be killed" in a recent Israeli assault on Gaza, Xinhua reported.
Mousa Abu Marzooq, deputy politburo of Hamas, based in Damascus, told the London-based Saudi Arabia Daily "We have no enough details ... he (Gilat Shalit) could be killed with other children during the war. I really don't know."
Hamas armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, and two other minor militant groups seized Shalit in an armed attack against an Israeli military base on the outskirts of southeast Gaza Strip in the summer of 2006.
On Dec. 27, Israel launched a military assault in the Hamas- ruled Gaza Strip dubbed "Cast Lead," which left over 1,300 Palestinians killed and 5,500 others wounded, half of them women and children.
The 22-day massive onslaught, which Israel said was aimed to stop rocket and mortar attacks against its southern communities, was put to a halt on Jan. 18 when Israel and Hamas respectively declared unilateral cease-fires.
Hamas insists that any truce talks with Israel, mediated by Egypt, be separated from negotiations over the release of Shalit, while Israel said the Jewish state would only reopen Gaza crossings and lift its blockade of Gaza when Shalit is set free.
Earlier reports spoke about a breakthrough in the talks held between Egyptian mediators with a senior Hamas delegation in Cairo on reaching an 18-month-lull and freeing 1,000 prisoners for the release of Shalit.
Asked about disagreements between Gaza Hamas leadership and the exiled leadership in Damascus, Abu Marzooq denied the allegation, saying "look at our delegation; it includes leaders from both Gaza and Damascus."
The Islamist group, which remains blacklisted by the West as a terror group though it won 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, seized power in Gaza in June 2007 after outrunning security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
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