Hamas and Fatah have reached an agreement for the Palestinian unity government to take control of the Gaza Strip under the stewardship of Mahmoud Abbas. The understanding came after two days of talks in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
The deal between the two leading Palestinian parties was confirmed by senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk and Fatah’s head of delegation, Azam al-Ahmad, on Thursday. The unity government will take over civil administration in Gaza from Hamas, which has controlled the enclave since 2007, according to RT.
The Palestinian national unity government was set up in June, but it had previously never been fully implemented following a dispute between Fatah and Hamas over the Palestinian Authority’s non-payment of salaries to Gaza’s public sector workers. However, those disputes and disagreements have now been laid to rest.
“All civil servants will be paid by the unity government because they are all Palestinians and it is the government of all Palestinians,” Reuters reported Ahmed as saying.
The thaw in relations between Fatah and Hamas could lead to a straining of relations between Israel.
Hamas enjoyed a wave of support during and following Israel’s 50-day bloody military onslaught in the Gaza Strip, which left more than 2,000 Palestinians dead.
