Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah said they reached an agreement on Thursday for the return of their unity Government in Gaza ahead of crucial negotiations with Israel next month.
The Palestinian rivals had set up a unity Government of independents in June but it never took hold, with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas accusing Hamas of running a “parallel” administration as de facto ruler in the Gaza Strip.Hamas in turn accused Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, headquartered in Ramallah, of not paying its 45,000 employees in Gaza.“Fatah and Hamas have reached a comprehensive agreement for the unity Government to return to the Gaza Strip,” Jibril Rajoub of Fatah told AFP.
Senior Hamas official Mussa Abu Marzuk and Fatah’s head of delegation, Azzam al-Ahmad, confirmed that an agreement had been reached after two days of talks in Cairo.The talks were crucial for internal Palestinian divisions to be set aside and to agree on a unified strategy during talks with Israeli negotiators in October.The October talks, under Egyptian mediation, are aimed at reaching a durable ceasefire after the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas.