The United States said yesterday that Hamas' role in freeing British Broadcasting Corp. correspondent Alan Johnston has not changed the world's opinion of the Islamic militant group.

Johnston, who was kidnapped in Gaza on March 12, was set free after Hamas struck a deal with the Army of Islam, an al-Qaida-inspired group that held Johnston for nearly four months. The only detail of the deal made public is that Hamas pledged not to dismantle or disarm the group.

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Hamas hopes Johnston's release will prod the international community into easing a long-standing boycott of the group, based on its militant ideology.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, however, "I don't think the world views Hamas any differently as a result of this."

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Hamas' help in freeing Johnston showed goodwill but was not enough to change France's policy toward the group.

Kouchner added that France continues to recognize Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas as the legitimate representative of the PA.

Johnston yesterday traveled to the West Bank to thank Abbas and the Palestinian people for their support during his 16 weeks in captivity in Gaza.

"I came to the West Bank to say thank you to the president for his support and also came to say thank you very much to the Palestinians, especially to the journalists in the West Bank," Johnston told reporters after meeting with Abbas in Ramallah, the seat of the emergency cabinet Abbas established after Hamas violently seized control over Gaza last month.

"I had a radio, I know how much the Palestinians were doing here to work for my release," he said.

On Wednesday, Johnston recounted how that radio was his only link to the outside world during his solitary confinement in Gaza.

Also yesterday, a leading human rights group called for militant groups in Lebanon and Gaza to free Israeli soldiers they seized in cross-border raids last summer and for Israel to release Hamas lawmakers rounded up after the abductions.

Palestinian gunmen with links to Hamas tunneled from Gaza into Israel, killed two Israeli soldiers and captured tank crewman Cpl. Gilad Shalit on June 25, 2006. Three weeks later, Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon crossed Israel's northern border and captured two soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, triggering a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah.

All three are still missing, although Hamas last week released a recorded message from Shalit, the first sign of life from him since he was abducted.

"The groups holding these soldiers hostage must release them immediately," Human Rights Watch Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said in a statement.

Israel rounded up more than 60 Hamas officials in the wake of Shalit's capture, among them 36 lawmakers, in an operation widely viewed as an effort to collect bargaining chips to force his release.

All but a handful are still in custody, although Palestinian officials said that Hatim Qafisheh, a legislator from the Hebron area, was freed yesterday.

"It was only after Cpl. Shalit's capture that Israel started arresting Hamas legislators and ministers who had participated in Israeli-sanctioned Palestinian elections in January 2006," Whitson said. "Israel's response to hostage-taking should not include arbitrary arrests."

In a report earlier this week, Human Rights Watch said Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli towns and Israeli artillery strikes near populated areas in northern Gaza constituted serious violations of the rules of war and said both sides showed insufficient regard for civilian life.