Palestinians to miss deadline for Gaza handover?

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Sunday is the deadline for an Egypt-mediated handover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas to the Palestinian consensus government. However, the transfer is likely to be delayed as tensions have risen in the region following US President Donald Trump's decision on Wednesday to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

According to CGTN reporter Noor Harzeen, who had talked to politicians from rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, the handover "could take more time" after the protests and the violence broke out. The process probably would not be completed until "later this week" or "early next week," she said.

Trump's announcement upended decades of American diplomacy, causing an overwhelming global diplomatic backlash.

Four Palestinians have now been killed and dozens wounded since Trump announced the new policy, which drew criticism from every other UN Security Council member at an emergency meeting on Friday.

Hamas called for a "new intifada" in response to the disputed move, while Fatah also urged Palestinians to "keep up confrontation and broaden it to all points where the Israeli army is present" in the West Bank.

On Sunday, Israel's military said it demolished a tunnel belonging to Hamas stretching from Gaza into its territory.

Head of Hamas delegation Saleh Arouri (L) and Fatah leader Azzam Ahmad sign a reconciliation deal in Cairo, Egypt, October 12. /Reuters Photo

Fatah-Hamas reconciliation

Tensions between the Western-backed mainstream Fatah Party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, an Islamist movement designated as a terrorist group by Western countries and Israel, intensified after Hamas won the parliamentary elections in 2006. Clashes broke out in Gaza between supporters of the two groups the same year.

In 2007, Fatah and Hamas agreed to form a national unity government to end the crisis. However, Hamas later ousted Fatah from Gaza, and seized control. The two sides set up rival governments in the West Bank and Gaza.

In 2008, reconciliation efforts began.

In 2014, Fatah and Hamas again agreed to form a national unity government. But this wasn't fully implemented until October this year, when Hamas agreed to hand administrative control of the Gaza Strip to a Fatah-backed unity government.

At the end of November, Fatah and Hamas said they had asked Egypt to delay the timetable of the handover by 10 days from December 1 to December 10 to allow time to "complete arrangements."

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said Saturday the group "reiterated its commitment to all that has been signed and agreed upon and the completion of the handover."