Hamas says no agreement on kidnappings

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JERUSALEM, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Hamas officials told an Arab-language newspaper in London the militant Palestinian group has not agreed to stop kidnapping Israeli soldiers.

The report in al-Hayat cited a source in Hamas, which effectively controls Gaza, The Jerusalem Post said.

Israel agreed this week to surrender more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier kidnapped in June 2006 in a cross-border raid. Shalit is to be returned to Israel once 450 men on a list agreed to by both sides are freed with 27 female prisoners, to be followed by the release within two months of another 550 men selected by Israel.

Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official in Lebanon, told al-Hayat that as part of the agreement Israel has said it will not target the released prisoners for re-arrest.