Khaled Meshaal, the top leader of Hamas which won last week's Palestinian parliamentary election by a landslide, made the offer to Israel via a column titled "To whom it may concern," published in the al-Hayat al-Jadida newspaper.

"We will never recognize the legitimacy of the Zionist state that was established on our land," Meshaal, the Damascus-based head of the political and military wings of the militant Islamic group, wrote in the column.

The United States and European Union have demanded that Hamas renounce violence, disarm and change its charter calling for the destruction of the Jewish state or risk losing foreign aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.

Hamas leaders have stood firm in their refusal to buckle to international pressure.

They have said they might heed a truce with Israel as an interim measure that could include the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank, but would not abandon a long-term goal to destroy Israel.

"If you (Israel) are willing to accept the principle of a long-term truce then we will be ready to negotiate with you over the conditions of such a truce," Meshaal wrote.

Hamas officials say Meshaal is the group's No. 1 overall political leader. There are other leaders who oversee political operations in Gaza and the West Bank but answer to Meshaal.

Brushing aside Meshaal's suggestion as "verbal gymnastics," Israeli officials demanded Hamas unequivocally recognise Israel's right to exist as a sovereign state, abandon "terrorism" and destroy its "terror" infrastructure.

"Anything short of that will simply maintain the current situation in which the absolute majority of the community of nations determine Hamas to be a terrorist organisation, and as such, not a legitimate interlocutor for political negotiation," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

The United States has suspended the start of new projects in the Palestinian territories after Hamas's election victory, but expects some US aid to flow in the future regardless of whether Hamas leads the Palestinian Authority government.

Jacob Walles, the US consul general in Jerusalem, said in an interview with Reuters that Washington is concerned Hamas might turn to Iran for funding.

"We're proceeding with (US aid) activities that are under way, but we're not starting new activities. We don't want to get into a situation where we may start something and not be able to finish it," Walles said.