20091227

CAIRO (Reuters) - Three officials from the Palestinian group Hamas crossed into Egypt from Gaza on Sunday to discuss Israel's response to a proposed prisoner swap, a delegation official said.

The officials are expected to meet Egyptian security officials. They will later visit Syria for further discussions with Hamas leaders there.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted by Israel's Jerusalem Post newspaper on Sunday as saying no deal had yet been reached on a prisoner swap. He said he would hold talks in Egypt on Tuesday with President Hosni Mubarak to seek ways to promote Middle East peacemaking.

Egypt and Germany have been mediating a possible exchange of prisoners by Hamas and Israel. Under a proposed deal, Hamas would release Gilad Shalit, an Israeli army conscript held captive in Gaza for almost three years, for some 1,000 of the 11,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails.

On Wednesday, the German mediator delivered Israel's latest response to Hamas, whose leaders were now weighing it. Officials familiar with the negotiations said Israel had ruled out releasing a handful of senior Palestinian militants serving life sentences for orchestrating lethal attacks on Israelis.

Tension between Israel and the Palestinians has risen in the last few days. On Thursday, Palestinians shot and killed an Israeli on the West Bank, and on Saturday Israeli soldiers shot and killed two Palestinians belonging to the Fatah movement, also on the West Bank.