(Adds further comment)

By Jonathan Saul

JERUSALEM, March 22 (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah said in an interview on Thursday a framework had been agreed with Israel that could secure the release of a captured soldier held by militants in Gaza.

Abbas made the comments ahead of a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Abbas wants the United States and Israel to lift an economic boycott of the unity government he formed with Hamas Islamists.

Militant groups, including Hamas, seized Corporal Gilad Shalit last June in a cross-border raid from Gaza into southern Israel.

"We agreed recently on a framework with (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert to solve the problem of Shalit, in agreement with the Egyptians, and this process is happening quickly," Abbas said in an interview with Israel's Channel One television.

"I hope his release will come quickly ... I believe now it is accepted and everybody is working towards that," he added.

Abbas gave no other details.

A political leader of Hamas, Osama al-Muzaini, described Abbas's comments as "not as accurate as he said".

"Although there is movement on this issue, we cannot say that things have reached the final stage yet," he told Reuters. "There are still issues that need to be agreed upon."

Israeli Web site YNetnews quoted senior Israeli political sources as saying there was nothing in reports of a breakthrough on freeing Shalit. The sources said talks were ongoing, with no date yet set for his release.

Abbas has made similar comments in the past.

Israel has said it is ready to free some of the 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in its jails for Shalit, but it remains unclear how much progress was being made in talks through Egyptian mediators.

Hamas is demanding the release of some 1,400 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza)

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