Israel is set to release 550 Palestinian prisoners in the second and final phase of a swap that brought home an Israeli soldier after five years in captivity.

Turkey will take in some of the Palestinians freed in a swap deal with Israel, a foreign ministry official has said.

Hamas released an Israeli soldier today in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas’ leader in the Gaza Strip says the militant group has officially turned over a captive Israeli soldier to Egypt as part of a prisoner swap with Israel.

A captured Israeli soldier has been moved across the border into Egypt, beginning an elaborate prisoner swap deal in which hundreds of Palestinian inmates are to be freed in return for the captured tank crewman, Palestinian officials in Gaza said.

RELATIVES of Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks waged a charged debate yesterday over the planned release of militants this week in a deal to free an Israeli soldier held by Hamas for five years.

Israel has begun began the process of formally pardoning hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who are to be exchanged for an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants for five years.

ISRAELI and Hamas officials said last night they have reached a prisoner swap deal to free a captured Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli and Hamas officials said tonight they have reached a prisoner swap deal to free a captured Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Gaza Strip militants vowed today that an Israeli soldier kidnapped five years ago would not “see the light” until Palestinian prisoners held by Israel were released.

Dozens of furious Palestinians protested against the French foreign minister on a visit to the Gaza Strip today, pelting her motorcade with eggs and narrowly missing her with a lobbed shoe.

Tony Blair has welcomed the easing of Israel's blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza to allow in virtually all consumer goods that had been barred for years.

HAMAS militants yesterday traded a two-minute video showing an apparently unharmed captured Israeli soldier for 19 Palestinian women held in Israeli jails – the first tangible step toward defusing a key flashpoint in Israeli-Palestinian hostilities.

Israel today freed 19 Palestinian women prisoners after seeing a video offering a first glimpse of an Israeli soldier held by Gaza Strip militants for more than three years.

A PRISONER swap deal with Hamas is all but impossible before Prime Minister Ehud Olmert leaves office this week and will have to wait for the new government to be sworn in, a top aide to the Israeli leader said yesterday.

Israeli authorities broke up a series of Palestinian cultural events as part of a crackdown in Jerusalem, disrupting a children’s march and bursting balloons at a school celebration.

THE father of an Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza for nearly three years blames outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for failing to free his son.

Israel today ruled out any Gaza peace deal until Hamas Islamic militants release a soldier captured three years ago.

Israel’s Security Cabinet will meet today to consider a possible prisoner exchange with Hamas, freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for a soldier captured in June 2007.

Israel assassinated a Hamas strongman today by dropping a one-ton bomb on his house, also killing two of his wives and four of his children.

Critics of Israel’s prisoner exchange with Lebanese guerrillas said that such deals only encourage more hostage-taking – a fear underscored by Gaza militants who said the swap proves that kidnapping is the only language Israel understands.

Dozens of Palestinians handed out sweets and waved yellow Hezbollah flags to celebrate what they saw as a major victory in Israel’s return of five Lebanese prisoners.

The parents of an Israeli soldier held by Hamas-allied militants have petitioned Israel’s supreme court to block a truce deal with the militant group as long as their son remains in captivity.

A Hamas official in Gaza has today confirmed that radical Islamic group Hamas and Israel have agreed a truce which begins on Thursday.