Palestinian groups reject President Abbas' announcement of new government

By Anadolu staff

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Several Palestinian resistance groups slammed on Friday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' announcement of a new government, fearing that the move would further divide the nation.

The Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and National Initiative groups issued a joint statement in which they questioned the feasibility of replacing one Prime Minister with another "from the same political environment."

"Taking individual decisions and engaging in superficial and empty steps such as forming a new government without national consensus only reinforces the policy of unilateralism and deepens division," the statement said.

On Thursday, Abbas appointed Mohammad Mustafa as prime minister and asked him to form a new government.

Mustafa will replace Mohammad Shtayyeh who resigned in February in light of the developments related to the Israeli war on Gaza.

Even though he is not a member of Abbas' Fatah movement, he is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's Executive Committee.

The statement urged the Fatah movement to work with Palestinian groups to administer the current stage in accordance with what serves the Palestinian national cause and meets the people's aspirations to liberate their land and sanctuaries.

Israel has waged a retaliatory offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. The offensive has killed over 31,000 victims and injured more than 73,000 others amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar