Pyongyang, September 11 (KCNA) -- Hamas slammed Thursday the U.S. envoy to the United Nations for calling on the Islamic movement to release an Israeli soldier it has held since 2006.

"We condemn the remarks of Susan Rice for not referring in a single word to the suffering of thousands of Palestinian prisoners," said Atallah Abu Elsebah, a Hamas official in Gaza City.

The international community "must press Israel to free the Palestinian prisoners," the official added.