RAMALLAH, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa al-Barghouti said on Saturday that practical procedures to reach a prisoner swap between Israel and the Palestinians to release an Israeli soldier held in Gaza have started.

Al-Barghouti, also the Hamas-led coalition government spokesman, told reporters in Ramallah that the practical procedures to release Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit have begun as part of a swap deal.

The new development, said al-Barghouti, was that the Palestinians have handed over lists of prisoners they wish to be released from Israeli jails to an Egyptian security delegation that has been mediating between Israel and the captors.

"The Palestinian side has presented everything required and the ball now is in the Israeli field," added al-Barghouti.

The minister made the remarks after the cabinet ended a meeting to discuss a plan aimed at restoring security in the Palestinian territories.

    The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and the Islamic Army kidnapped Shalit last June in a cross-border raid and the Israeli soldier has been held hostage in Gaza ever since.

    The captors demand to exchange him for some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

    In another development, President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah will meet Prime Minister Ismail Haneya of Hamas on Saturday evening to discuss the formation of a national security council in accordance with a February power-sharing deal between the two parties.