GAZA, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday that his movement is ready to reach a prisoner swap deal with Israel through a third-party broker.
Haniyeh made the announcement in a televised speech on official Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV on the annual Prisoner Day.
"Resistance can make the great wish of the Palestinian people and all the free people in the world are waiting for, come true by releasing the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails," he said.
Hamas reportedly has held four Israeli soldiers since a year ago, while Israel said two of them were already dead.
Egypt brokered a prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel in 2011, which included the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held by Hamas for five years.
According to a report by Palestinian Prisoner's Club Association, about 1 million cases of Palestinian arrests have been documented since 1967, with 1,928 Palestinians arrested in 2018.
A total of 48 Palestinians have been jailed for more than 20 years, and 12 for over 30 years, the report said.
Palestinians have been marking the Prisoners Day each year since April 17, 1974, the day when more than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners rallied in Israeli prisons and detention camps.
