A deal between Israel and Hamas that would have seen hundreds of Palestinian prisoners released in return for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was torpedoed by Iran, according to a report Thursday in the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot.
The report, quoting anonymous sources from a Western country, said a swap agreement had already been negotiated and was supposed to go into effect next week, but was foiled when an Iranian delegation arrived in Damascus and met with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, offering him $50 million to block the deal.
Mashaal accepted the money and ratcheted up his demands for Shalit's release, the report said, deadlocking the negotiations.