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GAZA, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Hamas chief announced on Sunday that his movement is ready for negotiations on a prisoner swap deal with Israel, the Hamas official website said.
"The day is coming when the prisoners get released and we are not going to leave them," Ismail Haniyeh said during his visit to several families in the central Gaza Strip.
In 2017, Hamas announced the captivity of four Israeli soldiers without revealing if they were dead or alive, while Israel said two of the four were already dead.
In 2011, Egypt brokered a prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel, before Israel released more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the freedom of its soldier Gilad Shalit who had been held captive in Gaza for five years.
