PA orders Hamas to abide by Abbas’ plan

Hamas must abide by the plan recently announced by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “without any conditions,” the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah, said today.

Speaking during his weekly meeting, Hamdallah stressed that the government would provide the Gaza Strip with all the needed services and facilities, and would “restore unity” between Hamas and the PA, if Hamas adhered to the Abbas’ plan.

On his part, Fatah Central Committee member, Jamal Moheisen, said in an interview that the PA’s budget would not currently or in the future afford paying the enclave’s employees, especially the Hamas employees.

The measures set by the government on Gaza, Moheisen added, including the reduction of power supplies, aim at thwarting what he described as “coup,” noting that that the government “will confront Hamas schemes through the people of Gaza.”

Read: Abbas has ‘closed’ reconciliation file, claims Fatah source

Gaza has been suffering severe electricity crisis after its sole power plant was shut down in mid-April due to a shortage of fuel in the besieged Strip, causing severe power outages which last 20 hours a day. Since then, a number of hospitals in the enclave have reportedly reduced the care they offer putting thousands of patients at risk.

Last week, the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority blamed Hamas for obstructing the PA’s plan with Israel to solve the electricity crisis by not transferring electricity payments to the PA, rejecting statements by Gaza’s power authority that it had met all of the PA’s stipulations to end the electricity crisis, but that the governing body in the occupied West Bank had yet to respond.