Hamas would consider the stationing of observers on border crossings with Egypt but was opposed to the deployment of an international peacekeeping force, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a Damascus-based Hamas official, told the Financial Times that his organisation, which has been under massive Israeli assault, was ready for a ceasefire as long as it involved an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the end of the blockade of the territory and some “arrangement” for the border crossing with Egypt.