Hamas would recognise Israel if it withdraws to its pre-1967 borders, a French Jewish writer said this week after meeting the exiled leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement, Khaled Meshaal.

"He told me that Hamas was prepared to recognise Israel on the lines of June 4, 1967. He told me so several times," Marek Halter told AFP on Monday.

The date refers to Palestinian demands for an end to Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 war.

Halter's meeting with Meshaal took place in Damascus last month, on the eve of Israel's 22-day offensive, which left more than 1,330 Palestinians dead, according to Gaza medics, and vast swathes of the territory in ruins.

The writer said he informed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of Meshaal's comments at the start of the Gaza conflict, which ended on January 18 as Israel and Hamas declared unilateral ceasefires.