Hamas says Israel retreating from Germany-brokered prisoner deals

GAZA, Islamic Hamas movement accused Israel of retreating from a series of Germany-brokered agreements that would have paved the way for a prisoner exchange, a pro-Hamas website reported Wednesday.

"The prisoners swap is going through a state of freeze because (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's government has a strict position and had retreated from a set of deals that were reached through the German mediator," al-Ressala.net news site reported, quoting Ezzat al-Resheq, a member of Hamas political bureau, as saying.

According to al-Resheq, Israel's stance has "embarrassed and weakened" the German mediator who has been trying to secure a deal in which Hamas would free captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for a number of Palestinian and Arab prisoners.

Al-Resheq said that Israel has decided not to free several senior leaders from Hamas and other Palestinian groups, creating a new obstacle.

Hamas insists that Israel releases all female prisoners under the swap. He added that if Israel wanted to keep a single woman behind bars, "this would be enough to stop the swap."

Hamas has been holding Shalit since 2006 somewhere in the Gaza Strip.