Rayan urged Palestinians not to give any information about the soldier "for free" and asked the Palestinians in the West Bank to also "revolt" against the invasion of Gaza.

"Defend your prisoners. Work hard until the 10,000 prisoners are free. Don't give any information," he said, referring to all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Ahlan Firwana, the mother of a militant killed in an Israeli raid, was representative of Palestinian public opinion on Wednesday when she said she supported the release of the soldier -- on condition that Palestinian prisoners held by Israel also be freed.

"I pray for him to return safely back to his family," said Firwana, who was part of a group of 30 women, all relatives of Palestinians in Israeli jails, that spoke to reporters in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. "I call on the mediators ... to focus on the exchange of prisoners. I don't want the dead body of my son. Our only demand is the freedom of the prisoners."

Trying to defuse building tensions, negotiators from the ruling Hamas movement said Tuesday they had accepted a document implicitly recognizing Israel. But two Syrian-based Hamas leaders, who hold great weight within the movement, denied a final deal had been reached.

Shalit's abduction Sunday by Hamas' military wing and two other Hamas-linked groups has threatened to turn already devastated relations between Israel and the Hamas-led government into an all-out war. Hamas took over the

Palestinian Authority after winning parliamentary elections in January, and has been under international pressure to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

Complicating matters was a new claim by the Hamas-linked Popular Resistance Committees, one of the three groups that carried out Sunday's assault, that it had also kidnapped a Jewish settler in the West Bank.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the report was being taken "very seriously," and military officials said there was "rising fears" the claim was true.

After Israel launched its Gaza assault, the PRC threatened to kill its hostage.