Hamas government says wants ceasefire with Israel

JERUSALEM, June 15 (Reuters) The Hamas government wants a ceasefire with Israel and is willing to speak to Palestinian militant factions in Gaza to get them to stop firing rockets at the Jewish state, a spokesman said today.

''We are interested in a ceasefire everywhere. We want to end all operations if the Israeli side is interested in doing so,'' Ghazi Hamad said in an interview on Israel Radio. Hamas ended a 16-month truce with Israel last Friday. Its militant wing responded by launching a barrage of makeshift rockets at the Jewish state from the Gaza Strip.

Reuters CH VV1649