CBNNews.com - GAZA STRIP - Hamas has rejected Israel's condition that the release of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Corporal Gilad Shalit must be part of any truce agreement.

"We won't give Israel a free truce," senior Hamas member Mahmoud al-Zahar said Tuesday.

"If anyone thinks that the issue of Shalit will be solved for free as a part of the tahadiyeh [temporary calm], [he's] completely wrong," he said.

"The issue of a prisoner exchange is completely separate from the tahadiyeh," al-Zahar concluded.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Israel's stipulation that Shalit's release must be part of deal is a veiled attempt to torpedo the plan.

"Israel is indirectly evading the initiative," Zuhri said.

"Hamas is not going to wait for an Israeli response to the initiative. We will resort to various methods to face the daily aggression and lift the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip," he said.

Source: The Jerusalem Post