The document was signed after three days of dialogue between the two rival factions and other political factions brokered by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, ending a dispute that had lasted nearly two decades.
“We are committed and calling for national unity,” said Musa Abu Marzouq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau. But Israel has already responded by criticizing Fatah.
“Instead of rejecting terrorism, President Mahmoud Abbas supports the murderers and rapists of Hamas, thus revealing his true face. In reality, this will not happen, because Hamas will be defeated and Abbas will be left to watch the Gaza Strip from a distance,” the Israeli foreign minister said.
The US also does not support any post-war plan that includes Hamas.
China, which has good relations with Israel but also supports the Palestinian cause, remembers that “the Palestinians themselves must govern Palestine.”
Hostage deal ‘close’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that a deal to free all hostages held by Hamas was “close,” speaking to family members of the hostages in the United States. Netanyahu will meet with Joe Biden at the White House tomorrow.