A senior Hamas official has declared the group is "ready for a  ceasefire" in the war-ravaged Gaza, and urged incoming US president Donald Trump to put "pressure" on Israel to reach a truce.

It follows indications earlier this week that Israel and Hezbollah are close to reaching a deal to end fighting in Lebanon.

Multiple organisations, including the United Nations and Human Rights Watchi, this week declared the situation in Gaza showed "characteristics of genocide".

"Hamas is ready to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip if a ceasefire proposal is presented and on the condition that it is respected" by Israel, Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim told news agency AFP. 

Mr Naim said Hamas had informed "mediators that it is in favour of any proposal submitted to it that would lead to a definitive ceasefire and military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip".

He said Hamas's key demands, which the organisation had made in successive ceasefire talks, were the return of displaced people, a serious deal for prisoner exchange and the entry of humanitarian aid and reconstruction.

Last weekend, Qatar announced it had suspended its role as a mediator in Gaza ceasefire talks until Hamas and Israel showed "seriousness" in talks.

On the campaign trail,  Mr Trump promised peace in the Middle East and has vowed to give free rein to Israel.

This week he announced Marco Rubio would serve as the next US secretary of state.

On Thursday, Lebanese government officials indicated Hezbollah would be willing to withdraw its forces from its border with Israel as part of a peace agreement.

Iran on Friday said it would back Lebanon's push for a truce between Israel and Hezbollah.

Ali Larijani, an advisor to Iran's supreme leader, spoke during a visit to Beirut as Israel kept up its intensified bombardment of Hezbollah-controlled areas of the Lebanese capital.

"We are after a solution to the problems. We support in all circumstances the Lebanese government," Mr Larijani said.

"Those who are disrupting are [Mr] Netanyahu and his people."

Hezbollah was founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982, and has been armed and financed by Tehran.

It came as Israel continued its strikes across the Middle East, and carried out strikes in the Syrian capital of Damascus for the second consecutive day.

Syrian state-run media said Israel struck the upscale Mazzeh district of Damascus on Friday, the second such attack in as many days to hit the neighbourhood home to embassies, security headquarters and United Nations offices.

"Israeli aggression targets Mazzeh area in Damascus," the official SANA news agency said after reporting a deadly Israeli strike on the district a day earlier.

AFP/Reuters