Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is ready to sign a truce over Gaza if Israel agrees to a ceasefire and lifts its blockade, the foreign ministry said here. “The Hamas leader said he was ready to sign such a deal in a place chosen by the parties by mutual consent” in a phone call to Senegalese President Abdoullaye Wade late Sunday, the ministry said. Wade offered a proposal for an “immediate way out of the crisis.” “It is about getting a definite truce between Hamas and Israel by signing an accord that would oblige Hamas to observe an immediate ceasefire in exchange for an Israeli immediate ceasefire accompanied by a total lifting of the blockade of the Gaza strip,” the ministry said. • Turkey said Monday it was suspending its role as mediator for peace talks between Israel and Syria, where Meshaal is based, in view of Israel's air strikes on Gaza.
