Egypt says working for release of Israeli soldier

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt assured Israel on Tuesday the Gaza Strip's only border crossing to the outside world would remain closed until a deal was reached with Hamas to free an Israeli soldier, Israeli officials said.

Under an Egyptian-brokered truce that took effect last week, Israel agreed to ease gradually its economic blockade of the Gaza Strip, but it demanded the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Hamas-controlled territory remain closed until the soldier, Gilad Shalit, is freed.

The five-day old truce in Gaza was shaken on Tuesday when militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip fired at least two rockets into southern Israel after Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus.

"We received assurances that Rafah crossing will not open until Shalit's case is solved," said a senior Israeli official who took part in talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Mubarak, however, said he does not want to link any possible prisoner exchange deal with the truce.

Asked if he can assure the Jewish state that the Rafah crossing would remain closed until Shalit was freed, Mubarak told Israeli television: "Do not get me into the details."

He later said: "Do not link them together and ruin everything. I will not speak about this issue. We are exerting efforts for Shalit and efforts for the truce but do not link this with that."

Mubarak's comments were carried by Egypt's state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA).

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri rejected any link between the Rafah border issue and the fate of Shalit.

"Rafah crossing is a Palestinian-Egyptian crossing and will be reopened in isolation from Shalit's case," he said.

Egypt has been trying to mediate Shalit's release since he was captured on the Gaza border in June 2006.

Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas have not been able to agree on all the conditions, such as which Palestinian prisoners Israel would free in return.

During their meeting, Olmert asked Mubarak to lead "intensive negotiations" with Hamas to free Shalit, said the senior Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said last week Shalit's release depended on Israel freeing Palestinians, though the Olmert government has balked at many of the names on the list.

After the Sharm el-Sheikh talks, Mubarak spokesman Suleiman Awad said: "Egypt will continue its efforts to ensure a successful exchange of prisoners. Egypt is determined in its efforts, and it needs flexibility to be shown by both sides."

Olmert, on his first visit to Egypt since the truce came into effect on Thursday, thanked Mubarak for helping broker it.

"Egypt played an important role in creating conditions that made it possible to end the terror from Gaza to Israel," he said, referring to cross-border rocket attacks. "Egypt and Israel are strategic partners."

Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said Israel was committed to its part in the truce but voiced concern about the intentions of militants in the Gaza Strip..

"We have heard some in Gaza say things that are not factual about the agreement with Egypt and that did not give us confidence," Regev said.

Regev last week criticized Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's leader in the Gaza Strip, for saying the truce would not stop smuggling across the border with Egypt, and disputed his interpretation of the agreement.

Since the truce began, Israel has started to ease gradually the economic blockade of Gaza it imposed when Hamas took control of the strip from the rival Fatah group last year.

In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to make peace with the Jewish state. It has played a role over the years as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians. (Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Alaa Shahine in Cairo, Writing by Jonathan Wright and Adam Entous)