Captured IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit is alive and in good condition, Hamas's Syria-based leader Khaled Mashaal was quoted as saying Thursday. In an interview set to be published Friday in the Italian weekly Panorama, Mashaal said that Schalit's captors were treating him "according to law."
The Hamas leader went on to say that he was "astonished" as to why Israel so worried about one soldier when in Israel, about 12,000 Palestinians are detained, including women and children.
On January 17, Mashaal said that IDF operations in Gaza had a negative impact on talks over the release of Schalit. He also said that in any case, Schalit wouldn't be released until Israel agreed to free all the prisoners Hamas was demanding in the context of a prisoner swap.