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Hamas Says Turkey, Syria, Qatar to Host Exiled Palestinians

A group of 40 Palestinian detainees being exiled overseas under a deal to free a captured Israeli soldier will be sent to Turkey, Syria and Qatar, Hamas said on Monday.

"At the moment, the countries that will accept prisoners are Turkey, Qatar and Syria," a Hamas official in Gaza told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

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Israel Says Shalit to Return Home on Tuesday

Captured soldier Gilad Shalit is to return to Israel on Tuesday at the same time as 450 Palestinian prisoners are freed if the terms of a swap deal are respected, a senior Israeli official said on Friday.

"We hope that the timetable laid out in the agreement will be respected and that Gilad Shalit will return home on Tuesday," said the official from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office told Agence France Presse, saying a first tranche of prisoners would be released at the same time.

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Shalit Expected to Return to Israel on Wednesday via Egypt

Captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is expected to return to Israel via Egypt by next Wednesday, Palestinian sources and Israeli media said on Thursday

A senior Palestinian official said a first group of 450 Palestinian prisoners would be released next Tuesday, followed by Shalit's release on Wednesday.

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Palestinian Killed in Gaza Near Israel Border

A Palestinian was killed in northern Gaza near the border with Israel on Monday, the DFLP group and medics said, in circumstances disputed by the Israeli army.

Adham Abu Selmiya, spokesman for Gaza's emergency services, said a man had been killed by Israeli tank fire but his body was so badly disfigured that medics were not immediately able to identify him.

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Israel Raids Gaza after Rocket Fire

The Israeli air force launched a raid over the Gaza Strip after a rocket was fired from the Palestinian territory towards southern Israel Thursday, a military spokesman said.

The rocket fired from Gaza landed in an abandoned building in Israel's Shaar Hanegev area, the spokesman said.

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Hamas Slams Obama Speech, Says it Shows Bias Towards Israel

Palestinians on Thursday slammed U.S. President Barack Obama's address to the U.N. General Assembly, calling it a display of U.S. bias towards Israel.

Commentators, politicians and ordinary Palestinians alike said Obama's speech on Wednesday, just days before the Palestinians apply to become a U.N. member state, showed Washington was incapable of serving as a fair broker between Israel and the Palestinians.

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Israel Hopes 'Common Sense Will Prevail' in Turkey Row

Israel's public diplomacy minister said on Wednesday that he hoped "common sense would prevail" in former friend and ally Turkey in the diplomatic crisis the two governments are now embroiled in.

"Despite the attempts on the Turkish side to provoke an escalation, we are acting with restraint," Yuli Edelstein told public radio. "We are not pouring oil on the fire, in the hope that common sense will prevail."

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Turkish Lawyer Submits List of Israeli Flotilla Raiders

A lawyer for a Turkish Islamic group said Friday he had submitted to prosecutors a list of Israeli soldiers involved in a deadly raid on a flotilla sent by the group to break the Gaza blockade.

"We have presented a list of Israeli soldiers who gave the order for and who were involved in the attack on the Turkish flotilla to the Istanbul prosecutor's office," Ramazan Ariturk, the lawyer for the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) which organized the ill-fated flotilla, told Agence France Presse.

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Israel Says Turkey Warships to Gaza Threat 'Grave'

Israeli Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor on Friday described as "grave and serious" a threat by the Turkish prime minister to send warships to escort any aid vessels trying to reach the Gaza Strip.

"These remarks are grave and serious, but we have no wish to add to the polemic," Meridor said on army radio.

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German Police Detain Lebanese Terror Suspect in Bomb Plot

German police on Thursday detained a Lebanese-German and a Gazan suspected of obtaining potential ingredients for a bomb and searched an Islamic center where the pair had spent time.

The arrests came three days before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and followed a weekend statement by the interior minister that threats to Germany remained "real and intensive."

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