DUBAI, December 21. /TASS/. The Israeli side has refused to hold a hostage-for-prisoner swap deal similar to the agreement on the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011, when 1,027 Palestinians were released, the Al Hadath TV channel reported, citing its sources.

According to the channel, the radical Palestinian organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad have approved a list of 500 Palestinian prisoners they would like to release as part of the exchange, but the Israeli authorities refused to meet such conditions.

Hamas, for its part, demanded that the mediators put pressure on Israel to stop the detention of Palestinians by its military. Hamas officials stressed that this must be done before any ceasefire negotiations could begin.

On December 18, Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official and a top member of the movement's political bureau, announced that the movement had proposed a prisoner swap deal with Israel along the lines of the 2011 agreement, when Shalit was released. He had been held by the radicals for more than five years.

Hamas still holds 126 Israelis and 11 foreigners; 110 of the hostages have been previously released as part of a humanitarian ceasefire. On December 17, Reuters reported, citing sources in the Egyptian security services, that Israel and Hamas were ready to agree on a new ceasefire, but that this was hampered by disagreements between the parties over the details of a future deal.