A top Hamas leader has told Qatari news channel Al Jazeera that the militant group is open to a weapons "freeze", but rejects the demand for disarmament put forward in the U.S.-sponsored peace plan for Gaza.

"The idea of total disarmament is unacceptable to the resistance (Hamas). What is being proposed is a freeze, or storage (of weapons)... to provide guarantees against any military escalation from Gaza with the Israeli occupation," said Khaled Meshaal in an interview aired Wednesday.