GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- A Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip called on Tuesday for Palestinian factions to abduct Israeli soldiers in order to swap them for Palestinians jailed by Israel.
Khan Younis district spokesman Hammad al-Ruqab called on militant groups, and in particular Hamas' military wing the Al-Qassam Brigades, to seize forces "whatever the cost", which he lauded as the most successful route to freeing prisoners.
Prisoners struck a deal with Israeli prison authorities on Monday to end a mass hunger-strike in exchange for improvements to prison regulations.
Senior Hamas official Saleh Arouri, who was a member of the negotiations team, said that under the deal Israel agreed to provide a list of accusations to administrative detainees, or release them at the end of their term.
Israel also agreed to release all detainees from solitary confinement, to lift a ban on family visits for detainees from the Gaza Strip, and revoke the "Shalit law," according to the official.
The "Shalit law" restricted prisoners' access to families and to educational materials as punishment for the five-year captivity of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Shalit was freed in October in a prisoner swap agreement.
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