Hamas says unity deal at risk if sanctions continue

Hamas said yesterday that Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s delay in easing sanctions on Gaza was putting at risk a landmark unity deal signed last week.

“The continuation of the punitive measures against our people in Gaza a month after the dissolution of the administrative council spoils the general atmosphere for reconciliation,” a party spokesman told Hamas media.

Hamas last month agreed to dissolve its administrative council, seen as a rival government in Gaza, and return civilian power in the enclave to Mr Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, a decade after seizing it.

Chief among the group’s demands, however, was that Mr Abbas drop a series of measures taken against Gaza.

Among these were reductions in energy payments for the territory, which left its two million residents with only a few hours of mains electricity per day.

Hamas is due to hand over Gaza’s border crossings by November 1 ahead of a full transfer of power by December 1.

The Palestinian Authority’s top border official visited Gaza on Monday.

Previous reconciliation agreements between Hamas and Mr Abbas’s Fatah, based in the occupied West Bank, have collapsed over the implementation of specific issues.

Security control of the Gaza Strip is expected to be a major stumbling block, with Hamas refusing to disarm its 25,000-strong armed wing.