Abbas expects prisoner exchange to come soon

BETHLEHEM, West Bank, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday expressed his hope that Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement of Hamas could reach a prisoner exchange deal soon.

"We hope the swap deal will succeed and occur in the nearest possible future, so a number of our brothers would be freed," Abbas said during a visit to the holy city of Bethlehem in the West Bank.

"Any freed prisoner is a win to us, that's why we support the swap," he added.

On Wednesday, the Gaza ruling Hamas received an Israeli response to a proposed swap and requested some time to study the deal before sending its reply through a German mediator.

A year after capturing an Israeli soldier near the Gaza Strip in 2006, Hamas routed pro-Abbas security forces and seized control of the coastal enclave, confining Abbas's rule to the West Bank.