RAMALLAH, West Bank: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed on Wednesday the foreign-mediated humanitarian deal between his Islamist Hamas rivals and Israel in the Gaza Strip, and called for wider solutions to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Abbas' administration, based in the occupied West Bank, "appreciate(s) the Qatari-Egyptian (mediation) effort", wants an extended truce with Israel and "the implementation of a political solution based on international legitimacy," a social media post by senior Palestinian aide Hussein Al-Sheikh said. (Writing by Dan Williams)