GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas is launching a media boycott of Barcelona after reports the Spanish league leader gave a complimentary ticket for an upcoming match to an Israeli soldier formerly held captive by militants in the Gaza Strip.

A Barcelona spokesman confirmed the team had given the ticket to Gilad Schalit, who was captured by Gaza militants in June 2006 and returned home last October under an Israel-Palestinian deal on prisoner exchange.

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