Palestinian factions, including rivals Hamas and Fatah, will hold unity talks in China in July, two senior Hamas and Fatah officials told Reuters on Monday, as they try to resolve deep divisions.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Reuters/Hamad I Mohammed
Palestinian factions, including rivals Hamas and Fatah, will hold unity talks in China in July, two senior Hamas and Fatah officials told Reuters on Monday, as they try to resolve deep divisions.
The two factions met in China in April to discuss reconciliation efforts to end around 17 years of political splits.
The meetings come amid rising tensions between the two factions over Hamas' continued war with Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the Fatah movement, has previously criticized the Islamist Hamas group for the war, while Hamas has accused the Palestinian president of taking Israel's side.
The two main Palestinian factions have been at odds since Hamas won legislative elections in 2006 and took over the Gaza Strip in 2007 after a brief civil war in which it routed the Western-backed Palestinian forces loyal to Abbas.
Efforts since 2007 by Arab countries, led by Egypt, have so far failed to end power-sharing disputes between Hamas, which runs Gaza, and the Fatah movement of Abbas, which makes the backbone of the Palestinian Authority.
Reporting by Nidal Al Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta
During the first six-week phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreed last week, Hamas is to release 33 hostages in total, with at least three hostages released each week. In turn, Israel will release 30 Palestinians from prison for each Israeli civilian Hamas releases, and 50 for each soldier.
France will keep fighting to obtain the release of the two French-Israeli nationals held by Hamas, foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot told BFM TV on Monday.
The ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, which came into effect on Sunday, includes provisions for a large-scale prisoner exchange.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.