GAZA CITY - Hamas on Saturday warned it would capture more Israeli soldiers if the Jewish state launches a ground offensive against its Gaza Strip stronghold.

"If they go in, there will be more friends for Shalit," said a message on Hamas's internal radio.

It was a reference to Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier seized by Hamas and other militants in a brazen cross-border raid in June 2006 and who remains in Gaza captivity.

- AFP /ls