Senior exiled Hamas official says group wants to maintain calm with Israel

Hamas says group wants to maintain cease-fire

DAMASCUS, Syria — A senior exiled Hamas official says his group is interested in maintaining a cease-fire with Israel so as not to give the Jewish state a pretext to launch a new war against Gaza.

Moussa Abou Marzouk denied however that Hamas was preventing militants from other Palestinian groups from attacking Israel.

Islamic Jihad said on Sunday that Hamas police detained several of its fighters in Gaza along with those from another group and made them sign pledges that they would not engage in attacks on Israel.

Abou Marzouk told The Associated Press in an interview there was a “consensus” among Palestinian groups not to launch rockets against Israel for the time being but “sometimes violations happen.”