Gilad Shalit was seized in June 2006 by Palestinian militants, including members of the Hamas group which runs Gaza, in an raid into Israel that also left two Israeli soldiers dead.
It has not been made clear what illness the Palestinian leader was suffering from, though doctors ruled out cancer and rejected the allegation - repeated on Thursday by the Hamas militant group - that he had been poisoned.
And in 2000 he was deported from Israel over allegations that he backed the militant Islamic group Hamas.
Israeli forces in the West Bank have arrested at least 20 members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
This weekend Russia pledged emergency financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, now led by the militant Islamist group Hamas.
In 2011, one of its journalists was arrested in Israel on suspicion of being an agent of the Palestinian group Hamas.
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Less than 24 hours ago, Hague blamed Palestinian radical political group Hamas for the violence in Gaza and added that Hamas should cease fire immediately.
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First this, in London Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is dividing her time between meetings about the Middle East and the radical Palestinian group Hamas, we covered that story earlier in the show, and other meetings about Iran's nuclear program.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- The future of the Middle East entered a new era of uncertainty Thursday, as the militant Palestinian opposition group Hamas snatched power from the ruling old guard and made skeptics of many key players in the peace process.
Keen not to jeopardise the respite, government ministers have adopted a milder stance on the Israel-Palestine talks and called for reconciliation with Hamas's rival group, Fatah.
If a Jacksonian president were in charge of US foreign policy, he or she would understand that supporting elections that are likely to bring a terror group like Hamas or Hezbollah to power is not an American interest.
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Mr Bush pressed the EU leaders to declare Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, a terrorist organisation.
Faced with the growing power and influence of Hamas, the main militant group, the Palestinian Authority's only hope of remaining relevant is successful negotiation with the Israelis.
The first hint of a debate emerged in recent weeks on whether the EU should re-examine its no-contact approach to Hamas, classified as a terrorist group.
But Hamas is not known to have any bank accounts in Jordan and there were already restrictions on the group since 1999 when Jordan expelled four Hamas leaders.
Israel has no diplomatic relations with Hamas, which it deems a terrorist group.
In rallies at Mr Abbas's West Bank headquarters, the yellow flags of his Fatah group are increasingly speckled with Hamas's green.
Both Israel and the US have insisted they will not deal with any side that includes Hamas, which they regard as a terrorist group.
Khaled Meshaal - Hamas' politburo chief living in exile - was declared the group's overall leader after Sheikh Yassin was killed in an Israeli missile strike.
The question now, of course, is whether Israel's fears of a Hamas-heavy government will prove founded, or whether the group will provide a surprise of its own, and head to the negotiating table.
Jordan's Central Bank had initially ordered all banks in the country to freeze any accounts belonging to six leading Hamas leaders and to abstain from any financial transactions involving the Palestinian group.
Abbas' Fatah group dominated Palestinian politics for decades until last year, when Hamas won legislative elections.
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The comments reflected the general tone that the U.S. has historically taken toward Hamas, which the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist group.
Whereas Egypt has long claimed to lead the region's peacemakers, the Lebanese group is allied to a front which embraces Syria, Iran and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist party ruling the Gaza Strip, and espouses confrontation with Israel.
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Both Israel and the United States consider Hamas a terrorist organization and have voiced strong opposition to the inclusion of the group in any unity government, demanding that it first renounce violence, recognize the state of Israel and abide by all previous agreements.
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With Israel seemingly resigned to Hamas rule in Gaza, some officials say Brussels should open a channel to the group.
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