Hamas, Palestinian factions meet to discuss Gaza Strip

By Hedaya al-Saedi and Mohamed Majed

GAZA CITY, Palestine

The Hamas resistance movement and Palestinian factions convened on Sunday in the blockaded Gaza Strip to discuss the current situation and issues in the enclave.

“We now have a strategic goal and I think that the factions share with us that the blockade must stop and that the time has come for the Palestinian people to take their natural right to live decent lives,” Husam Badran, a leading member of Hamas, told reporters before the closed-door meeting.

The meeting is being attended by the Islamic Jihad, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Palestinian Arab Front, and Palestinian National Initiative, while the Fatah movement declined to take part.

He stressed that the situation in Gaza does not belong to Hamas only and this is why it is meeting with other Palestinian factions.

Badran said Hamas is committed to all reconciliation agreements inked with the Fatah movement to end the national rift.

"We are living in a very serious and sensitive stage. We’re talking about the ‘deal of the century,’ which aims to end the Palestinian cause," Badran added, referring to a controversial backchannel plan to reach a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.

On Sunday, Fatah criticized the involvement of Hamas in “shameful negotiations” with Israel over the deal, saying it aims “to separate Gaza from the homeland and establish a small state which would be the graveyard for our national project.”

In response, Hamas accused Fatah of “negative behavior” which aims to undermine efforts to reach national unity and end the Gazans’ suffering.

The Gaza Strip is buckling under a decade-long Israeli blockade that starves its inhabitants of many essential commodities, including food, fuel, medicine, and building materials.