Serry also said that the U.N. had no “official” contact with Hamas because his current mandate prohibited it. But he said his office has passed on messages involving diplomatic and political issues pertaining to the cease-fire with Israel and to reconciliation with the Palestinians other political major movement, Fatah, which governs the West Bank. Hamas and Fatah fought a bloody battle in 2007 that ended with Fatah forces being largely ejected from Gaza.

“But I have a political role to play,” Serry said.

Serry noted that Hamas has still not met the U.N.’s demands that it recognize Israel and renounce violence. But he said that Hamas officials have recently made statements suggesting that they were willing to moderate their position on some key points.

In an interview this weekend with CNN, Hamas political head Khaled Mashaal said that his group was wiling to accept a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, “or 22 percent of ‘historical Palestine.’”

He also suggested that his group would be willing to recognize Israel once progress was made toward the establishment of an independent Palestinian State.

An Israeli official who spoke to McClatchy on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the topic publically said that as far as Israel was concerned, Hamas would continue to face widespread isolation unless it renounced violence and formally accepted the State of Israel’s right to exist, among other steps.

“I am surprised to hear the UN and other international groups are considering various levels of dialogue considering this is a terror group which has never shown itself to be anything else,” said the official.