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Hostage's dad sends condolences
17/01/2008 18:32 - (SA)
Jerusalem - The father of an Israeli soldier held captive in the Gaza Strip said Thursday that he sent a letter of condolence to the territory's Hamas strongman after his son was killed in an Israeli raid.
Mahmoud Zahar confirmed to Israel's Yediot Ahronot newspaper that he had received the letter from Noam Schalit. Islamic militants affiliated with Hamas captured Corporal Gilad Schalit in June 2006 in a cross-border raid, and are still holding him, Israel says.
"It was a personal letter of condolences," Schalit said on Thursday. He said he did not appeal to Zahar to help free his 21-year-old son, but declined to disclose the text of the letter.
Zahar's 24-year-old son Hussam, a Hamas militant, was one of 19 Palestinians killed on Tuesday in an Israeli operation against Gaza rocket squads. Scenes of Zahar weeping as he kissed his dead son's forehead were shown on Israeli TV Tuesday.
"Our hearts break when our sons are killed but we don't have any other choice," Zahar told Yediot. "It hurts but we have a homeland and holy sites that are more important than them."
Zahar's eldest son, Khaled, was also killed by Israel, in a failed assassination attempt on the Hamas leader in 2003.
Zahar heads Hamas' military wing, which has killed more than 250 Israelis in suicide bombings in recent years. He is widely believed to have masterminded Hamas' bloody June takeover of Gaza.
Hamas' supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, said from Damascus on Wednesday that the military action in Gaza Tuesday would hurt chances that Hamas would release Schalit.
Israeli defence officials also said they thought the high Palestinian death toll and the killing of Zahar's son dealt a serious blow to efforts to work out a deal for Schalit's freedom in exchange for Palestinian prisoners Israel holds.
- AP
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