Gaza, August 05: Restrictions on the Gaza Strip will continue until captured Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit, returns home, Israeli radio reports.
Shalit was captured by Palestinian fighters on June 24, 2006 in response to an Israeli raid in Gaza the previous day.
The radio said on Tuesday that as long as the file of the captured Israeli soldier remains obstructed, the government would not cooperate with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip.
The plan also includes transferring millions of dollars to the Gaza Strip to cover the costs of rebuilding the facilities and homes destroyed by Israel during its 23-day blitz against the beleaguered Palestinian territory earlier this year.
The radio claimed that the Hamas leadership in Gaza is well aware of the Israeli position, but prefers to keep the conditions as they are.
However, Hamas has demanded the release of all Palestinian prisoners – including those from the West Bank – in exchange for the release of Shalit, who was captured while on active duty against Gaza. Tel Aviv has rejected this proposal.
In a one-sided deal, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated on several occasions that Tel Aviv’s illegal and devastating siege of Gaza and its 1.5 million inhabitants would not be lifted without resolving the case of Shalit, while leaving unanswered the Palestinians’ demands for release of their captives.
—-Agencies