Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil said on Wednesday that talks with ‘Israel' over a prisoner swap in exchange for captured ‘Israeli' occupation soldier Gilad Shalit were completely over, according to ‘Israel' Radio.

Bardwail told reporters at a press conference in the Gaza Strip that it was unclear when the negotiations would be renewed, but added that his Islamic resistance group did not see the case as closed.

Earlier Wednesday, Hamas called on Egypt Wednesday to declare ‘Israel' responsible for the failure of talks aimed at finalizing a prisoner exchange and Shalit's release.

"It is up to Egypt, which oversaw the negotiations, to publish a clear stance and to expose to the world how the Zionists thwarted the deal," the Palestinian Islamic resistance group said in a message published on Wednesday in the London-based Arabic-language daily al-Hayat.

Hamas says the bone of contention between it and Israel was over ‘Israel's' insistence on deporting senior Hamas detainees, rather than allowing them to return to their to their homes in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and not because of a dispute over the actual number of detainees to be released.

'Israeli' negotiators Ofer Dekel and Yuval Diskin claimed Hamas hardened its stance and insisted upon the release of detainees that ‘Israel' has no intention of letting out of prison.

Al-Hayat also reported that senior Hamas officials have threatened to capture more Israeli occupation soldiers in order to free Palestinian detainees. They were quoted as saying that "If ‘Israel' continues to drag its feet, Gilad Shalit will suffer the same fate as Ron Arad."

Al-Hayat also quoted Hamas's military commander Ahmed J'bari as saying that ‘Israel's' insistence that 90 of the released Palestinian detainees be expelled from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and 30 more moved to the West Bank was the reason why negotiations to free Shalit failed. "So long as ‘Israel' doesn't consent to Hamas's conditions, I have no problem holding on to Shalit for another full year," J'bari said.

J'bari is believed to be one of the few Hamas operatives to know the whereabouts of the captured soldier.

While the Hamas commander clearly placed the blame for the current status of the talks on Israel, he went on to say the negotiations were not over, and that he was willing to continue contacts even after ‘Israeli' Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu takes office. "I don't discern between [Prime Minister Ehud Olmert] and Netanyahu," he said. "What matters to us is that our demands are met."

The paper further quoted other Hamas officials as accusing ‘Israel' of employing pressure tactics in order to force the Islamic group into giving up the soldier. "[Olmert] is trying to pressure Hamas by saying that if a deal is not achieved, the matter will be moved into the hands of a right-wing Netanyahu government," the paper quoted the officials