Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has said he is prepared to sign a ceasefire agreement for Gaza that would involve Israel ending its attacks and its blockade of the territory, Senegal's Foreign Ministry said on Monday. According to Reuters, it said the proposal for a truce in Gaza was made in a telephone call to Meshaal late on Sunday by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, current president of the 56-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
"The Hamas leader said he was ready to sign such an accord in a place to be chosen by common consent between the two sides," the ministry said in a statement. It added Wade was proposing "a definitive truce between Israel and Hamas through the signing of an agreement that engages Hamas in the immediate observation of a ceasefire in exchange for an immediate ceasefire by Israel accompanied by a total lifting of the blockade on Gaza".
In a separate statement, Wade condemned the Israeli air strikes on Gaza as "unacceptable".
