Israel rules out Gaza truce unless soldier freed

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Saturday it would not agree to a longer term truce with the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip unless an Israeli soldier held by the Islamists was freed.

Israel had tied a full opening of its border crossings with Gaza, a Hamas condition for a ceasefire, with the release of Gilad Shalit, held captive in Gaza since 2006 when he was kidnapped in a cross-border raid.

“The prime minister’s position is that Israel will not reach understandings on a truce before the release of Gilad Shalit,” Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office said in a statement.