And on Wednesday, Hamas is expected to sign a preliminary reconciliation deal in Cairo with its secularist, mainstream rival Fatah, which is now based in the West Bank. The West Bank leadership is currently trying to win Western support for the deal and the unified interim government that is supposed to emerge.

By contrast, Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, told reporters in Ramallah that he viewed the killing of Bin Laden as “a major, mega landmark event, ending the life of a person who was involved in egregious acts of terror and destruction.” Mr. Fayyad said he hoped this would “mark the beginning of the end of a violent era.”

Mr. Fayyad said he was “not aware” of the Hamas condemnation of the killing.

Mr. Ashqar noted differences between Hamas and Al Qaeda on several issues, saying that Bin Laden saw America as an enemy of Islam and fought it, whereas Hamas only fights Israel within the confines of historic Palestine.

But in August 2009, Hamas also clashed with jihadist Salafists who had adopted the Qaeda ideology and defied Hamas rule, killing a Muslim cleric who led the group. The confrontation came after the cleric declared an Islamic state in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.