HAMAS: ABBAS IS WRONG; SHALIT'S RELEASE NOT IMMINENT

EARLIER TODAY, ABBAS STATED THAT THE RELEASE OF CORP. SHALIT WAS IMMINENT. HAMAS LET HIM KNOW THAT HE NO LONGER SPEAKS FOR THE PALESTINIANS. HE HAS BACKED OFF.

Hamas denies Israeli soldier to be freed soon.
GAZA (Reuters) - The armed wing of the Hamas militant group on Thursday dismissed comment from President Mahmoud Abbas, during a visit to Rome, that a solution could be imminent to the case of a captured Israeli soldier.

The Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades was among three factions that captured Corporal Gilad Shalit on June 25 in a cross-border raid from Gaza. Israel rejected demands for a prisoner swap and launched an offensive that has killed 148 Palestinians.

“Nothing has changed in the case of the Israeli soldier,” said Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades. “The file remains in the hands of the resistance factions and not in the hands of any politician even if that politician is Abu Mazen,” Ubaida said, using Abbas’s nickname.

SEE: Abbas remarks on Israeli soldier clarified