JERUSALEM, Israel - Damascus-based Hamas Deputy Moussa Abu Marzouk changed an earlier report alleging that he received a letter and videotape of captured IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Cpl. Gilad Shalit.

In an interview with the London-based Arabic daily al-Sharq al-Awsat, the exiled Hamas leader said he traveled to the Gaza Strip at the end of February to visit his family.

Marzouk reversed the report in the Kuwait newspaper al-Jarida, which claimed he received the videotape and letter from Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades commander Ahmad Jabari.

"I have no information about him SHALIT and I don't know if he is alive or dead," Marzouk said in the latest interview.

"The factions holding him know his fate and they won't provide any information about him without a price," he said.

"The prisoner exchange issue is in Cairo's hands and there is nothing new on this matter, even if Israel is now sending other mediators to us," the deputy Hamas chief claimed.

"Israel is sending English mediators and then German, French, Russian and Arab mediators," Marzouk said.

"But we stress that this issue is in Cairo's hands and that we won't release Shalit unless all the 450 prisoners we're demanding are freed, along with 550 others, which include minors, women, minister and parliament members," the deputy Hamas chief told the London-based Arabic-language daily.

Source: YNet news