Senior Hamas officials said Friday that a prisoner swap deal for the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit was unlikely to be completed in the near future.

The officials told the Al-Hayyat daily that Israel was still refusing its demands regarding 100 of the 450 prisoners set for release.

According to the daily, Hamas is threatening to reveal to the public the reasons behind the stalled negotiations should Israel continue to refuse its demands. Until now, a strict curtain has been placed over details of the talks.

Media have reported of late progress in the talks to see Shalit freed, more than three years after he was abducted by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip. A deal was predicted by late last months, but negotiations have not yet yielded a result.

According to Al-Hayyat, Israel has not yet delivered its response to the Islamist organization's offers for the deal.

Hamas' minister of prisoner affairs, Mahmoud Parag Alghoul, on Thursday blamed Israel for the failure in talks.

Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti said earlier this week that the deal is in its final stage, and he hopes to be released soon as part of it.

However, he acknowledged in an interview with the East Jerusalem daily Al-Quds, the final stage is the most difficult one. He said the deal depends on Israel's acceding to all of Hamas' demands, and the prisoners are willing to wait until then.

Barghouti, who is considered close to Hamas, denied there were any disputes over the deal within that organization.

Hamas, he said, is united in seeing the deal as a major achievement. Asked whether Hamas might fear his release, due to his popularity, he replied that his release is "a national interest of the entire Palestinian people," as it would help heal the Hamas-Fatah schism.