Hamas says Israel not interested in conflict escalation in Gaza

Israel has informed an unnamed third party that it is not interested in any escalation in the Gaza Strip, ruled by Hamas, a senior official of the Islamic movement said on Saturday evening.

Ismail Haneya, the deputy chief of Hamas movement, made his remarks in an interview with a pro-Hamas television at the end of a night prayers at one of central Gaza Strip mosques.

"Hamas armed wing is now five times stringer than it was before the last aggression on the Gaza Strip," said Haneya, adding that his movement "wasn't involved in the latest military actions."

Over the past few weeks, several reports said there are progressive international efforts to accomplish a bilateral long-term truce in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and Israel.

Hamas didn't deny that it had received ideas related to reaching a calm agreement, but it said that any step in this respect has to be agreed upon among a Palestinian consensus and won't lead to isolating Gaza from the entire occupied Palestinian territories.

He unveiled that there has been an improvement in the ties between Hamas and the Egyptian authorities, adding that there had been meetings with Cairo and there was a complete control of the borders with the Gaza Strip. Endit