Meshal: Shalit still alive

The abducted soldier Gilad Shalit is alive and being treated well, said exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshal yesterday.

Corporal Gilad Shalit was captured by Palestinian gunmen in a cross-border raid on an IDF base in June 2006 near the Gaza border.

Meshal told Britain's Sky News television that Hamas was ready to stop attacking civilians if the Jewish state agreed to do the same.

"Gilad (Shalit) is alive and we are treating him well, but Israel is treating the Palestinian prisoners it holds very badly," Meshal told Sky News.

Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) yesterday urged the government to hold direct negotiations with Hamas over Shalit's release, following Meshal's statement. Yishai told Army Radio that the fact that Shalit is still in captivity is proof that the government is not doing enough for his release.

Shalit's father said the family was not excited by Meshal's statement.