Palestinian PM visits Gaza in reconciliation move with Hamas

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Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah arrived in Gaza on Monday, marking his first visit in two years, a major drive towards reconciliation between the West Bank-based government and the Hamas movement in Gaza.

The Palestinian PM and dozens of officials are expected to hold a cabinet meeting with their Hamas counterparts on Tuesday morning, the first cabinet meeting held in Gaza since the government was formed in December 2014.

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered outside the Hamas-controlled checkpoint, down the road from Israel's Erez border crossing through which Rami Hamdallah and his delegation passed, to welcome the prime minister. Many waved Palestinian flags.

The arrival of the government to Gaza came after Hamas declaration on September 17 that it dissolved its administrative committee in the Gaza Strip and invited the government to take over its functions in Gaza.

People celebrate as the convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah arrives to take control of Gaza from the Hamas group, in the northern Gaza Strip October 2, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Hamas declaration was made during a visit of its delegation and another from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah Party to Cairo during which the Egyptian side discussed the efforts to achieve Palestinian reconciliation to end the internal division that started in mid-2007.

Hamas has been ruling the Gaza Strip since 2007 after a violent conflict with Fatah, which has retained control over the West Bank.

On Sunday, Hamdallah chaired an emergency meeting in advance of the visit to Gaza and announced it had finalized all the preparations for the historic visit, saying the visit is "supporting the reconciliation efforts and folding the page of division so that the homeland can be reunited with its people and institutions."

On the eve of the handover, Hamas released five Fatah security men it jailed two years ago for what an Interior Ministry spokesman described as “actions harmful to internal security”. Their sentences ranged from seven to 15 years.

An Egyptian delegation comprised of two generals and Cairo’s ambassador to Israel, arrived in Gaza to oversee reconciliation efforts. It was the first official Egyptian delegation to travel to Gaza since 2012.

Source(s): Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency