A Hamas official freed Sunday after four years in Israeli prison urged Israel's leaders to reach an agreement with his organization that would see the release of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Mohammed Abu Tir, who was one of 65 senior Hamas members arrested following Shalit's capture in a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip in 2006, said that if it were "in his hands" he would expedite the prisoner swap deal.
"All Israeli leaders are against the deal to release Gilad Shalit," Abu Tir told reporters following his release. "They reached a deal a number of times, but never followed through. Just like I have a family, a father, mother and children, Gilad Shalit also has a mother and father who want him."
"If only there was a deal, but it's not in my hands, it is in the hands of the leaders," said Abu Tir. "Israel's leaders must think about this. I don't like that Shalit is being held hostage, just as I didn't like being held hostage."
When asked how he felt having been released from prison, Abu Tir said: "I feel good, thank God. I paid a heavy price."
Israel has so far released nine of the Hamas officials who were jailed after Shalit's abduction convicted of belonging to an illegal organization. Israeli defense officials said those ministers had just completed their prison terms and their release was not connected to a prisoner swap deal for Shalit's release.
Hamas won control of the Palestinian parliament in 2006 elections and then seized the Gaza Strip in 2007, leading to rival governments in the West Bank and Gaza.