Don't give up Israeli soldier for nothing - Hizbollah

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrilla group, which has swapped kidnapped Israelis for Arab prisoners in the past, urged militants on Friday to only free an Israeli soldier captured in Gaza exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

"There are 10,000 detainees and there is no method to free them except this method, except this path," Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said.

"I warn the states, governments and political leaders that are pressuring the Palestinian resistance to free this Israeli soldier with nothing in return that the result will be ...to close the door entirely on 10,000 detainees in Israeli jails."

Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza on Friday in the third day of a military operation aimed at bringing home an army corporal seized by Palestinian gunmen in a cross-border raid on Sunday.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh demanded Israel halt the offensive if it wanted the soldier, Galid Shalit, back, and said his government would not give in to force.

Israel has already rejected a demand by Palestinian militants to free women and minors from its jails in exchange for information on Shalit.

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