"Being aware of all the details concerning this affair, I prefer to keep quiet. I became optimistic during my recent visit to Cairo and that I remain," Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer told army radio.
On October 19, Ben Eliezer, a member of Israel's weighty security cabinet, met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, a key negotiator for the soldier's release.
"All I can tell you, is that I greatly thank president Mubarak and general Suleiman," Ben Eliezer added.
"I went to Cairo with the feeling that the Egyptians, on this matter, had an obsession: to finish. That's what I told Noam Shalit, the father of the soldier, upon my return," the minister said.
One day earlier, Palestinian ruling party Hamas said its exiled politburo chief, Khaled Meshaal, would go to Cairo "in the coming days" to discuss an Egyptian proposal on swapping Palestinian prisoners for Corporal Gilad Shalit.
Hamas has demanded the release of some 1,000 Palestinians held in Israel in exchange for Shalit, who was captured on June 25 in an attack claimed by three resistance groups, including Hamas's armed wing.
Israeli army radio reported that Meshaal could head to Cairo as early as this weekend and that an agreement for Shalit's release may be concluded during talks with Mubarak and Suleiman.
Egypt has been acting as the main mediator in trying to secure the release of the serviceman in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Shalit's capture in a cross-border raid that left two other soldiers dead, sparked an ongoing four-month Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2006