GAZA CITY: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement called on its Islamist rivals Hamas on Saturday to relinquish power in order to safeguard the “existence” of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas must show compassion for Gaza, its children, women and men,” Fatah spokesman Monther Al-Hayek said in a message sent to AFP from Gaza.
He 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.
Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007 from the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, and subsequent attempts at reconciliation have failed.
The territory has been devastated by an Israeli offensive in retaliation for the attack by Hamas and other Palestinian militants on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Hamas has said repeatedly it is willing to leave power in Gaza once the war is over but categorically excludes giving up its weapons.
“We are ready to accept any agreement regarding the administration of Gaza (post-war), and are not interested in participating in it,” Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif Al-Qanou said in a statement Saturday.
“What’s important to us is the national consensus,” he added, recalling that Hamas has endorsed an Egyptian proposal for an independent committee of professionals and technocrats to manage Gaza post-war and oversee reconstruction.
Abbas says the committee must report to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, the sole legitimate entity to govern Gaza according to him, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has rejected this.
Following disagreement over the next steps in a January 19 ceasefire in the Gaza war, Israeli resumed air strikes on Tuesday, followed by ground operations the day after.
On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to annex parts of Gaza unless Hamas frees the remaining Israeli hostages seized in the October 7 attack.
Of the 251 hostages taken that day, 58 are still being held, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Nearly 50,000 people in Gaza have been killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The latest Israeli offensive has caused a new exodus of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza.
“We are exhausted by the cycle of displacement,” Ramadan Houdoud told AFP in a tent camp in Al-Zawayda in the center of the territory, after fleeing from Gaza City.
Displaced woman Umm Khaled lamented the destruction, adding: “There is no water, no food, and no rest.”
“Where can we go? We need a solution. Are there really no more Muslims to help us?” she asked.
Fatah urges Hamas to cede power to safeguard ‘Palestinians’ existence’
https://arab.news/b2qj9
Fatah urges Hamas to cede power to safeguard ‘Palestinians’ existence’
- “Hamas must show compassion for Gaza, its children, women and men,” Fatah spokesman Monther Al-Hayek said
- He 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
Iraq announces complete withdrawal of US-led coalition from federal territory
- The vast majority of coalition forces had withdrawn from Iraqi bases under a 2024 deal between Baghdad and Washington
- US and allied troops had been deployed to Iraq and Syria since 2014 to fight the Daesh group
BAGHDAD: Iraq said on Sunday US-led coalition forces had finished withdrawing from bases within the country’s federal territory, which excludes the autonomous northern Kurdistan region.
“We announce today... the completion of the evacuation of all military bases and leadership headquarters in the official federal areas of Iraq of advisers” of the US-led coalition, the military committee tasked with overseeing the end of the coalition’s mission said.
With the withdrawal, “these sites come under the full control of Iraqi security forces,” it said in the statement, adding that they would transition to “the stage of bilateral security relations with the United States.”
The vast majority of coalition forces had withdrawn from Iraqi bases under a 2024 deal between Baghdad and Washington outlining the end of the mission in Iraq by the end of 2025 and by September 2026 in the Kurdistan region.
US and allied troops had been deployed to Iraq and Syria since 2014 to fight the Daesh group, which had seized large swathes of both countries to declare their so-called “caliphate.”
The militant group, also known as “Islamic State,” was territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, but continues to operate sleeper cells.
The vast majority of coalition troops withdrew from Iraq over previous stages, with only advisers remaining in the country.
The military committee on Sunday said Iraqi forces were now “fully capable of preventing the reappearance of IS in Iraq and its infiltration across borders.”
“Coordination with the international coalition will continue with regards to completely eliminating IS’s presence in Syria,” it added.
It pointed to “the coalition’s role in Iraq offering cross-border logistical support for operations in Syria, through their presence at an air base in Irbil,” the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
In December, two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in Syria in an attack blamed on IS, sparking fears of a resurgence in the country.
The statement added that anti-IS operations would be coordinated with the coalition through the Ain Assad base in Anbar province in western Iraq.
IS attacks in Iraq have massively declined in recent years, but the group maintains a presence in the country’s mountainous areas.
A UN Security Council report in August said: “In Iraq, the group has focused on rebuilding networks along the Syrian border and restoring capacity in the Badia region.”
