(Adds Palestinian officials on Barghouthi, number) By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA, April 9 (Reuters) - For relatives of Hamas militant Mohammad al-Sharatha and others jailed by Israel, progress towards a deal to swap Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier was a rare cause for hope. "We have been awaiting this day," Sharatha's wife, Umm Nimer, said as her family and others appealed on Monday for their relatives to be among those released in exchange for Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit. Freeing leading militants from Israeli jails is a highly emotive issue for Palestinians, as well as for Israelis who have lost relatives in attacks. "He killed my son," said Gilbert Saadon, mother of one of the Israeli soldiers killed in a 1989 Hamas attack linked to Sharatha. "I do not approve (of his release) in any way," she told Israel's NRG Maariv news Web site. Hamas, which leads the Palestinian government, has handed over the names of Palestinian prisoners it wants Israel to free in exchange for Shalit, who has been held by militants in Gaza for 10 months. A Hamas cabinet minister, Wasfi Kabha, told Reuters that there are around 1,400 names on the list, including Marwan Barghouthi, a Fatah leader widely seen as a possible successor to the moderate President Mahmoud Abbas. Local press reports said Sharatha was also on the list, though that has not been confirmed by Hamas. "The ball now is in the Israeli court," Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa al-Barghouthi told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "The Israelis are the ones who decide on the speed of the return of Shalit, or his non-return, based on Israel's response to our demands." Barghouthi, who is related to the Fatah leader serving a life sentence for murder, said the Palestinians have yet to receive an Israeli response to the list of names. KEY DECISION After months of deadlock, a Shalit deal could be key to any progress in talks Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas have agreed to hold biweekly at the urging of the United States. But Olmert could also face a backlash from relatives of Israeli victims for agreeing to release Palestinian militants with "blood on their hands". Some Israelis who have lost family members in Palestinian attacks said they have mixed feelings about releasing leading militants but want to ensure Shalit returns safe to his home. Haya Hevi, whose husband was killed in a 2002 restaurant bombing, said she was angry to learn the names of the Palestinian militants who might be released, but added: "I also feel grief for the soldier (Shalit) and I want them (the militants) to return him home." Shalit was seized last June by militants from Hamas and other groups who tunnelled into Israel from Gaza. At Monday's gathering in Gaza City, dozens of families, including Sharatha's, held up pictures of their imprisoned relatives and expressed hope they would soon come home. Umm Nimer said she had been living through "a big tragedy" raising five children without Sharatha. "I want my father home," said one of Sharatha's sons. "We heard news about a release before. I hope this time it will be real." At his home in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza, Sinwar's 76-year-old father, Ibrahim, said his son's freedom would bring him joy at the end of his life. "I would feel like a newborn baby," the elderly man said. "I am very very happy and I wish for all prisoners to be released, like my son." Sinwar was jailed by Israel in 1988 for founding the first Hamas armed wing and was sentenced to 455 years in jail. (Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem and Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah)
