Israeli and Egyptian officials are making progress in attempts to end a mass hunger strike by Palestinan prisoners, some of them close to death, Gaza's Hamas prime minister said on Saturday.

"There was progress in talks between Egypt and Israel," Ismail Haniya said in a statement. "This is an important development concerning the demands of the prisoners."

Close to 1,600 Palestinian prisoners are currently refusing food in protest against solitary confinement, detention without charge and restrictions on family visits, education and various privileges.

Egypt helped broker a deal in which Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was freed in October after more than five years of being held by Gaza militants in exchange for the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.