Israel and Hamas have renewed negotiations over the release of captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, with the help of Egyptian mediation, a senior political official in Jerusalem said Monday. The official said the talks were restarted about a week ago, after having been suspended since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in June.

The Shalit issue came up in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Monday. The two leaders discussed the possibility of releasing more Palestinian prisoners, in addition to the 255 prisoners Israel released on July 20 in a bid to boost Abbas.

Olmert said he would consider the issue, but took into consideration the impact that Israel's bolstering of Abbas and his Fatah party could have on the rival Hamas.

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"It depends on contacts regarding the completion of the Shalit deal, via the Egyptians, not being damaged as a result of the issue," Olmert said.

Israeli political sources said Hamas was quite frustrated by Israel's release of mostly Fatah prisoners, when it had been discussing a prisoner swap entailing the release of Hamas prisoners in exchange for Shalit.

Egypt has been mediating the Shalit talks since June 25 last year, when Palestinian gunmen abducted Shalit near the Gaza border. The mediation efforts have been conducted by the Egyptian security delegation that had been stationed in Gaza, but ground to a halt when the delegation left the Strip when Hamas took it over.

Despite the suspension of negotiations, Israel and Hamas were both interested in finalizing a deal. They had already agreed two months ago on the release of some 450 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit, although there were disagreements whether prisoners involved in killing Israelis would be among those freed, as Hamas demanded. The restarted negotiations began where they left off, according to the political official in Jerusalem.

Vice Prime Minister Haim Ramon (Kadima) and Ofer Dekel, the former deputy Shin Bet security service director who is representing Israel in negotiations on the Shalit deal, met with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the negotiations.

In addition, Norway is trying to push Hamas to provide evidence that Shalit is alive. The most recent sign of life was an audiotape of Shalit's voice. Norway became involved in the affair after Shalit's father, Noam, and Meretz-Yahad chairman Yossi Beilin asked the Norwegian foreign minister two months ago to use its ties with Hamas to help free Shalit.

The Norwegian minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, told Beilin during a visit to the region on Sunday that Norway is involved in the affair from a humanitarian perspective, and is not intervening in Egypt's mediation efforts.