Hamas says hopes for deal to free Israeli soldier

GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas's leader in Gaza said on Wednesday he hoped the release of BBC journalist Alan Johnston by kidnappers may set a precedent for a deal with Israel to free a soldier seized a year ago.

"As the case of Alan Johnston has ended, we hope that the case of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit may end too in an honorable deal that would secure the release of our hero prisoners from Israeli jails," Ismail Haniyeh told a news conference, sitting alongside the freed BBC correspondent.

Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, called on Hamas to free Shalit immediately: "The Hamas that brought about Alan Johnston's release is the same Hamas that abducted Gilad Shalit," she said.

Shalit was seized from an Israeli border post in June last year by militants from Hamas and other groups who are demanding the release of prisoners by Israel in exchange for his freedom.

Haniyeh said there was a chance for a deal if the Israelis "deal with logic and reason and act in order to end the humanitarian suffering of Palestinian prisoners".

"The ball is in the Israeli court," he said.

Eisin said: "The (Palestinian) prisoners in Israel would have been released long ago if the Hamas had not kidnapped Gilad Shalit," adding that Shalit's kidnapping "hindered the release" of these prisoners.

Israel has said in the past that it is willing to bargain through mediators for the release of Shalit, but is not prepared to release the prisoners that Hamas and its allies are seeking.

Johnston was abducted in March by an al Qaeda-inspired clan group in Gaza, the Army of Islam, and freed after pressure and negotiations by officials from Hamas, which seized control of the enclave from the rival Fatah faction three weeks ago.