Both Islamic Hamas movement and Israel said on Sunday that an Egyptian and German-mediated prisoners swap deal aimed to free a captive Israeli soldier for the release of some 1,000 Palestinians from Israeli jails is not about to happen soon.
Various media reports said over the weekend that there was a breakthrough in the indirect talks to finalize the deal.
The German weekly of Der Spiegel said on Saturday a German mediator in the talks over the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit presented Hamas leaders "a new proposal." Hamas would respond to the new proposal on early September, according to the German weekly.
Osama al-Muzaini, a senior Hamas official in Gaza who is authorized to speak to the media about the indirect talks to finalize the deal, denied the prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel "has become imminent."
Hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has just came back from a tour in Europe, also said no agreement had been made with Hamas for the return of Shalit.
"Discussions about a deal being secured in the next few days have no basis. We must return Shalit home safe and sound, but nonetheless, there is a great deal of exaggeration and inaccurate information out there," Netanyahu told his weekly cabinet meeting.
Also on Sunday, an Egyptian security source revealed to the Saudi Arabian newspaper al-Madina that Israeli negotiator Haggai Hadas arrived in Cairo to meet with the chief of Egyptian intelligence Omar Suleiman and the German mediator to push forward the prisoners swap deal.
On Friday, the London-based al-Hayat daily reported that Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal is scheduled to arrive in Cairo this week to sign on the prisoners exchange deal. The exchange would involve the release of Shalit for around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Al-Muzaini told the Palestinian information center, a pro-Hamas movement news website, that "all what has been published recently in the media, that we are close to finalizing a deal between the Palestinian factions (captors of Shalit) and the Zionist occupation was untrue."
"There are still stages of the deal that hasn't been finalized yet," al-Muzaini told the news website. He can not be reached for the moment because he did not answer his mobile phone.
He did not deny that there is a movement in the transaction file, adding that "but it is not enough."
The two sides are reluctant to reveal any details to the mass media about their talks, and to declare progress in the talks to respect the feelings of Shalit's family and the families of the Palestinian prisoners.
On Saturday, Gaza-based Hamas lawmaker Salah Bardaweel warned against "excessive optimism concerning the completion of the deal, " saying that the talks have only achieved minimal progress, "but still no real breakthrough is achieved."
Hamas militant branch of al-Qassam Brigades and two other minor militant groups have been holding Shalit in captivity somewhere in the densely populated impoverished enclave of Gaza Strip since late June 2006. Shalit's family celebrated two days ago his third birthday since he was in captivity.
Egypt has been mediating between Israel and Hamas since Shalit was abducted three yeas ago, but the talks collapsed after the two traded accusations in February that the other side is not interested in finalizing the swap, although 80 percent of the deal had been finalized.
Egyptian media reported that upon both Hamas and Israel's request, Germany began its mediation in mid June this year to finalize the deal between Shalit's captors and Israel.
Although international and local media reports said Germany is now mediating between Hamas and Israel to finalize the swap deal, the Hamas official declined to identify the intermediaries in the prisoner exchange deal.
"We want to give the issue an opportunity to succeed. We reiterate that speaking to the media about the subject would be harmful," said al-Muzaini. "We can not say who intervenes. We can not talk about everything in details in order to respect our prisoners' feelings."