New international efforts are exerted to push forward the stalled prisoner exchange talks between Hamas and Israel, sources said on Wednesday.

The United States, Germany and Egypt took part in bridging the gaps between Islamic Hamas movement and Israel to swap a number of Palestinian prisoners for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier Hamas has been holding captive for more than three years, the sources told Xinhua.

According to the sources, the mediators drafted a compromise plan that Israel releases more prisoners and lift the blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in exchange for Hamas' acceptance of expelling some of the prisoners outside the Palestinian territories.

Hamas and Israel have agreed in principle on the proposal, the sources said.

Hamas has been demanding Israel to free more than 1,000 Arab and Palestinian prisoners and strongly rejecting any offer to exile some of the prisoners to Arab or Western countries.

Earlier, Israel has agreed to release 325 prisoners of life sentence out of 450 names Hamas has demanded.

On Tuesday, a Hamas delegation, headed by Gaza-based strongman Mahmoud al-Zahar, arrived suddenly in Egypt. The sources said the visit was aimed at discussing with the Egyptian mediators about the prisoner exchange deal.

(Xinhua News Agency August 27, 2009)