JERUSALEM, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- The parents of kidnapped Israeli solider Gilad Shalit said Monday they expect a resolution soon on negotiations to release him.
Noam and Aviva Shalit told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that while there was nothing new in the negotiations with Palestinian militants who are holding their son captive in Gaza, they expected the case to be resolved very soon, Ynetnews.com reported.
"There is nothing new to tell," Noam Shalit said. "The prime minister updated us. The process is not over, but I expect it to be over soon. We are continuing full steam ahead in order to finish this soon. I estimate that a decision will be made Monday or Tuesday morning."
Noam Shalit told reporters, "We mainly came to listen. I am no longer optimistic, but not pessimistic either."
Ynetnews.com said Netanyahu on Monday convened and then stopped a ministerial forum to discuss a prisoner exchange deal with the Hamas militant group who are holding Gilad Shalit.
Shalit, 23, was captured June 25, 2006, by Palestinian militants who staged a cross-border raid into Israel and has been held as a prisoner by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since then.
