Kidnapped Israeli soldier 'alive' say Hamas

The soldier whose abduction sparked Israel’s invasion of Gaza is alive and in stable condition, a Palestinian official said today, as President Mahmoud Abbas warned that the coming hours were “critical, sensitive and serious” to resolving the crisis.

Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants exchanged fire for several hours this afternoon when Israeli tanks and bulldozers crossed the border with Gaza and began razing farmland east of the town of Khan Younis.

Militants shot an anti-tank rocket at one of the vehicles. The army responded with gunfire and a missile launched from an unmanned plane. No major injuries were reported on either side.

The fighting took place north of the position Israeli troops have occupied since they entered Gaza on Wednesday. The army said it was carrying out a limited operation in the area and the soldiers were expected to leave soon.

No sign has been seen of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, since he was abducted a week ago during a militant raid on an Israeli army post just outside Gaza that killed two soldiers and two of the attackers.

The Hamas-affiliated militants holding Shalit initially said they would trade information about him for all Palestinian women and underage prisoners being held in Israeli jails. The militants raised their demands today, calling for an end to the Israeli offensive and the release of 1,000 additional prisoners held by Israel, including non-Palestinian Muslims and Arabs.

The new demand appeared aimed at rallying support in the Arab world.

Israel has ruled out any compromise with the kidnappers, saying it would only encourage more abductions.

Ziad Abu Aen, a Palestinian deputy minister and a Hamas official, said that “mediators” told him Shalit had received medical treatment for the wounds he sustained in the raid and was in stable condition.

“He has three wounds,” Abu Aen said at a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah. “I guess shrapnel wounds.”

Egypt and other foreign mediators have been working to try to resolve the crisis, but Abbas said those efforts had yet to bear fruit mainly because it was unclear who in Hamas – the militants or the group’s leadership abroad – was authorised to make decisions about Shalit’s fate. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, also a Hamas leader, apparently has no say in the matter, according to a statement from Abbas’ office.

“The next hours are critical, sensitive and serious. And though the efforts are still ongoing, we have not reached an acceptable solution until now,” Abbas’ office said in a separate statement.

Meanwhile, the fuel supply in Gaza began dwindling today, days after Israel cut off the flow through a pipeline. Petrol stations across the territory ran dry, and human rights groups worried that if fuel shipments were not restored in the coming days, Gaza could face a humanitarian crisis as generators used to pump water and power hospitals stopped working.

Authorities have been relying on generators since an Israeli airstrike Tuesday destroyed Gaza’s only power plant, knocking out 43% of the territory’s electricity supply, the United Nations said. The remaining electricity comes from Israel.

In a statement the Israeli army said Israel had increased the supply of electricity to Gaza to make up for the power shortage and would work to allow food and fuel to enter in the coming days.