Gaza hails anniversary of prisoner swap deal

GAZA CITY: Hundreds of Hamas militants kicked off celebrations in Gaza yesterday to mark one year since Israel began freeing 1,027 prisoners in exchange for the release of one soldier.
In the first event of a day of celebrations, hundreds of armed and masked militants from the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the ruling Hamas movement, marched through the city in a big show of force, an AFP correspondent said.
The snatching of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006 by a group of Hamas militants and others sparked a more than five-year crisis for Israel, which finally ended on Oct. 18, 2011.
As Shalit walked free, Israel released 477 Palestinian prisoners in the first step of a two-stage operation that eventually saw more than a thousand go free, including hundreds who were serving life sentences for anti-Israeli attacks.
A spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees also hailed the anniversary, vowing to snatch more soldiers in order to free Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
"The way to free our prisoners will happen through kidnapping more Zionist soldiers. The resistance will not stand paralyzed over this commitment," PRC spokesman Abu Mujahed said in a statement sent to AFP.
"All Palestinian resistance factions are seeking to repeat the deal and capture a new Shalit. The way is clear now," he said.
Last year's Egyptian-brokered deal won plaudits for Hamas from the Palestinian public, but the movement also came under fire for accepting Israel's conditions over who would be included in the swap — a move which the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said would not happen again.
"No future exchange will take place without the release of those whom the enemy refused to free during the deal," Brigades' spokesman Abu Obeida told reporters.
"The release of the prisoners is a top priority for the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades," he said.