Khaled Meshaal, Politburo chief of Damascus-based Hamas, said in a televised speech aired on the official Hamas-run al-Aqsa TV that an honorable prisoner swap deal mediated by Egypt was reached between Hamas and Israel, under which 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including 27 women, will be freed in exchange for Shalit, who has been held captive in the coastal enclave since June 25, 2006.

Hamas' armed wing Izedein al-Qassam Brigades and two other minor armed groups, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Army of Islam, kidnapped Shalit in a cross-border raid on an Israeli army base southeast of the Gaza Strip in June 2006.

Egypt and Germany have been mediating between Israel and Shalit's captors, who demanded the release of 1,000 prisoners as well as women and children under the age of 18 held in Israeli jails. According to official figures, there are more than 6,000 Palestinian and Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails.