World Bulletin / News Desk 

Senior Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouq said in a statement."Implementing the reconciliation agreement ,signed last year by both Hamas and Fatah, is the best way to respond to the Likud party's electoral victory," 

Unofficial results of Tuesday's Knesset polls indicate that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party had won 30 seats, while the center-left Zionist Union alliance had come in second with 24 seats.

The Joint Arab List, meanwhile, a coalition of four Israeli-Arab parties, came in third with an unprecedented 14 seats.

Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal almost one year ago aimed at ending seven years of division.

That division had led to two rival seats of Palestinian government – one in Gaza and one in Ramallah– after Hamas routed pro-Fatah forces in 2007 and took control of the Gaza Strip.

The Ramallah-based unity government, however, has yet to assume political responsibility for the blockaded Gaza Strip amid ongoing differences between the rival factions.