 "Palestine’s Fatah movement urges Hamas to ‘step aside’ from Gaza govt amid Israeli offensive")
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement has urged Hamas militant group to give up its ambitions to rule the besieged strip to help safeguard the “existence” of Palestinians in Gaza.
“Hamas must show compassion for Gaza, its children, women and men,” said Fatah spokesman Monther Al-Hayek said, reported AFP. He further called on Hamas to “step aside from governing and fully recognize that the battle ahead will lead to the end of Palestinians’ existence” if it remains in power in Gaza.
Fatah, Hamas signed unity agreement last year
This comes even as both Palestinian factions signed a “national unity” agreement in China last year. The deal laid the groundwork for an “interim national reconciliation government” to rule post-war Gaza.
The two main Palestinian political parties have been rivals since 2006, when Hamas seized control of Gaza following a conflict with Fatah.
Fatah leads the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control over the occupied West Bank and supports peaceful negotiations for a Palestinian state.
Israeli offensive in Gaza
Fatah’s suggestion for Hamas comes as Israel doubles down on its offensive against the militant group, ending a two-month ceasefire earlier this week. Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry said Thursday that 504 people have lost their lives since the war resumed.
On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to annex parts of Gaza unless Hamas releases more Israeli hostages.
“I ordered the IDF to seize more territory in Gaza,” Katz said in a statement. “The more Hamas sticks to its refusal to release the hostages, the more territory it would lose, territory which would be annexed to Israel.”
‘Catastrophic’ situation in Gaza
Owing to the recent Israeli offensive, medical conditions in Gaza have worsened over the past week. DW quoted Mohammed Mustafa, an Australian doctor working in Gaza, as saying that the situation had become “catastrophic”.
“We have little to no medicine. We have little to no antibiotics left,” he said. “We are really lacking in resources, medical equipment and even basic things like blood pressure cuffs, monitoring people’s oxygen levels and even oxygen cylinders.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsMustafa stated that Gaza’s fuel shortage is making it difficult for medical teams to transport patients between hospitals. As a result, some patients are dying from their injuries before receiving proper care.
(With inputs from agencies)
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