Hamas willing to agree to ceasefire with Israel on 2 conditions, senior official says

Hamas is willing to enter into a ceasefire agreement with Israel's military contingent on two conditions, a senior Hamas official told ABC News.

LONDON and JERUSALEM -- Hamas, the Palestinian militant group ruling the Gaza Strip, is willing to enter into a ceasefire agreement with Israel's military contingent on two conditions, according to a senior Hamas official. "We informed all parties that we would accept a mutual ceasefire between Israel and Hamas with two conditions," Dr. Basem Naim, a former Palestinian health minister who is now head of Hamas' international relations council, told ABC News on Tuesday evening. "One, Israeli forces must stop incursions into the Al-Asqa compound and respect the site. Two, Israel must stop the forced evacuation of the Palestinian residents in the Sheikh Jarah neighborhood. This condition is in accordance with international law, not only a condition expected by the Hamas authority." Israel, however, is not interested, according to an Israeli official with direct knowledge of the matter. "We say to stop prematurely is to give Hamas the victory it wants," the Israeli official told ABC News on Tuesday evening. "Hamas has to come out of this defeated."