Hamas: No swap now, but maybe later

GAZA: Hamas does not agree to Israel's latest terms for a prisoner swap and asked a German mediator to continue to pursue a deal, a Hamas official said yesterday after leaders of the Islamist group ended talks in Damascus.

"The consultations will continue and the negotiations will continue. We cannot say that the deal has reached a dead end. ," Ayman Taha said in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. A Hamas source close to the talks said a new round of negotiations begins next week.

Intensified consultations on both sides raised speculation last week that a deal to free Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held captive in the Gaza Strip for more than three years, in return for some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners was imminent.