A senior Hamas official said Saturday that the recent visit of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Egypt has foiled mediations to release captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

"There was a progress in the Egyptian mediation (to release prisoners) ... but during his visit to Cairo, Olmert had taken some steps backward," Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, said.

"When we move one step forward, he [Olmert] moves two steps backward," he said.

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"It's the right of Palestinian detainees to be with their families as soon as possible," he said, reasserting that Shalit, captured by Palestinian militants last June, is still alive.

Also Friday, former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel denied telling an Israeli newspaper that Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev - two soldiers captured by Hezbollah militants in July - are still alive. He said he had no information about their condition.

Gemayel's office issued a statement saying Gemayel "denies completely" speaking to any Israeli media about any issue.

Earlier, Maariv newspaper quoted Gemayel and a second Lebanese politician as saying the two soldiers were alive, but they offered no other details. They said they hoped the soldiers would return home in good health.

"With regards to the matter of the fate of the two captive Israeli soldiers, President Gemayel does not possess any information about this matter and he is in no capacity to speak about it," a statement from his office said.

Maariv's report appeared to run counter to an internal Israeli probe which concluded that the two soldiers were seriously wounded during their capture and at least one of them could now be dead.

Also on Friday, members serving in the same IDF reserve brigade as the captive soldiers held a rally in northern Israel at the conclusion of a journey from Jerusalem to the Lebanese border Friday to mark six months since the abduction.

"We came because half a year has passed," said a reservist, identified only as Duli. "People forget."

The procession passed the Defense Ministry building in Tel Aviv and stopped at the homes of Regev and Goldwasser.

Hundreds attended the rally at the northern kibbutz of Zarit and were later to convene at the spot where Regev and Goldwasser were kidnapped. The reservists also recited a prayer for the captives' wellbeing.

Zvi Regev, Eldad's father, told Israel Radio on Friday that the families of the captive soldiers are encouraged by the support they have received, but still expect the government to do all it can to bring the soldiers back to Israel.

The reservist convoy was also planning to stop at the home of Gilad Shalit.

A spokesman for the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees, one of the Palestinian militant groups behind Shalit's capture, said Tuesday that the captive soldier is in "good health."

The comments mark the first time that the group has provided details about Shalit's health. The spokesman, Abu Mujahid, said Shalit would not be released until Israel gives in to demands to release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

A Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip said the Fatah-affiliated Preventive Security Service has interrogated members of the Hamas military wing regarding Shalit's whereabouts, Israel Radio reported Friday.

On Thursday, an arms cache was discovered approximately one kilometer from where Hezbollah ambushed and kidnapped Regev and Goldwasser. It is believed that the weapons belonged to the militants who abducted them.

Zvi Regev said Friday the families of the captive soldiers were disappointed that it took half a year to find the weapons.

A Golani Brigade patrol discovered the cache on the northern side of the fence bordering Lebanon, but within Israeli territory.

Three rocket-propelled grenades, a MAG 7.62 machine gun, ammunition belts and shoes were found in the bag of weapons.

This area is considered to be Israeli territory because the Blue Line - the recognized border - lies north of the fence in that area.

GOC Northern Command described the patrol's movement north of the fence as part of an effort to vary routines in order to make it more difficult for Hezbollah guerrillas to track patrols.