Abbas says, may end unity with Hamas over Gaza governance

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has threatened to break off a unity agreement with Hamas if the Islamist movement does not allow the government to operate properly in the Gaza Strip. 

His remarks came on the eve of talks in Cairo with Egyptian President and a key address to the Arab League nearly two weeks after a ceasefire ended a major 50-day confrontation with Israel in Gaza.

‘We will not accept the situation with Hamas continuing as it is at the moment,’ Abbas said, in remarks published by official Palestinian news agency. 

‘We won’t accept a partnership with them if the situation continues like this in Gaza where there is a shadow government running the territory,’ he said.

‘The national consensus government cannot do anything on the ground,’ he said. Under the terms of a reconciliation deal signed in April, the Palestinians agreed to form an interim consensus government of technocrats, ending seven years of rival administrations in the West Bank and Gaza.