Palestinian sources said the coming days are "crucial" for the closing of a prisoner exchange deal for the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit .
Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram on Sunday quoted sources as saying the negotiations have entered a last minute sprint in hopes of reaching a deal before Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu takes his post this Tuesday.
According to the report, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's special envoy Ofer Dekel and Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin will be traveling to Cairo in the coming days.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Hamas politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal may also be summoned to Egypt ,in an attempt to complete the deal, the report said.
The sources said that the Egyptian leadership decided to try and complete the deal after Netanyahu asked President Shimon Peres for a two-week extension to form his government.
An official source from the Prime Minister's Office told Ynet Sunday morning that "until Hamas submits a new list of 125 terrorist as we have requested – there will be no negotiations, Ofer Dekel did not travel to Cairo, and for the moment, there are no talks."
Meanwhile, the Islamic Jihad -affiliatedwebsite Falastin al-Youm on Saturday reported that a "countdown" for the signing of a deal had begun.
The unusual report was not confirmed by any official sources. The website reported that marathon negotiations, the likes of which have never before taken place between Israel and Hamas, through Egyptian mediators, were about to take place.