Hamas eases stance on Israel with new policy document

Hamas on Monday unveiled a new policy document easing its stance on Israel after having called for years for the country's destruction, as the Palestinian Islamist movement seeks to improve its international standing.

File photo: Palestinian Hamas security forces, march with their rifles in front of the wreckage of late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat Source: AAP

The move comes ahead of a first face-to-face meeting on Wednesday between US President Donald Trump and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose Fatah party remains deeply divided from Hamas.

The document was unveiled in the Qatari capital Doha by exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, who is due to step down soon after serving his maximum two terms.

The press conference was also broadcast live in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave controlled by Hamas, and the document was posted on the movement's website.

"We in Hamas believe that renewal and reinvention is a necessity," Meshaal said at the conference in a Doha hotel.

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