Hamas says won't abandon rockets under Israel attack

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Palestinians will keep targeting Israel with rockets as long as the Jewish state continues its "onslaught" on Gaza and the West Bank, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said on Tuesday.

The Islamist group, however, would consider any deal that ends Israeli attacks and restores Palestinian rights, Meshaal told Reuters, repeating Hamas's position of accepting a long-term truce based on Israel returning land it occupied in 1967.

"We are dealing with aggressive Zionist behavior. Let Israel stop its aggression and its occupation of Palestinian land and the resistance, including rockets, will stop," Meshaal said in an interview.

"If the Zionists make an offer we will study it. Our cause is based on steadfastness and patience. The enemy will not break us," he said.

Israel says its attacks on Gaza and a blockade on the narrow coastal strip are aimed at stopping rockets and cutting support for the groups firing them.

Hamas leaders have offered a long-term truce with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The Islamist group continues to say it will not formally recognize Israel and its 1988 founding charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

(Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis; Editing by Janet Lawrence)