Jerusalem - Reports on a breakthrough in negotiations to free an Israeli soldier held captive in the Gaza Strip for the past three years were "damaging," Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday. "The reports on the release of (Gilad) Shalit are incorrect and even damaging," Barak told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, according to Israeli mediareports.
According to reports in the international media over the past few days, Shalit is to be transferred to Egypt shortly, as part of a prisoner swap deal with Hamas, which is holding him somewhere in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli officials have denied the reports, and Hamas officials have said the sides are still far apart in their negotiations.
On Sunday, Israel's Ha'aretz daily quoted "senior Israeli political sources" as saying that "there is no substantive progress on the matter."
Shalit was snatched during a cross-border raid by Hamas' military wing and two other militant groups launched from the Gaza Strip on June 25, 2006.
Hamas is demanding the release of hundreds of Palestinians from Israeli jails in exchange for him. The Egyptian-mediated negotiations have not yet borne fruit.
