Ahmed Yousef, a senior Hamas official regarded as a moderate in the party, has said he believes the election of former Muslim Brother Mohamed Morsi provides Hamas with a possible opening for international recognition, particularly in the West.

Mursi will "get the international community to recognise us and deal with us, just as it did with the Islamists in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen," Yousef told the Ma'an News Agency. 

Hamas, an armed Islamist political movement and offshoot of the Brotherhood, is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and other countries.

Yousef told Ma'an the group would accept any condition accept recognising Israel, which it would regard as giving up its rights.