On Gaza return, Hamas leader reiterates call for reconciliation

Rafah: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah reiterated his party’s readiness for Palestinian reconciliation on Tuesday, on his return from Egypt to the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday the Islamist party, which rules Gaza, announced it was willing to cede to a series of demands by president Mahmoud Abbas’s rival Fatah party and backed plans for new elections.

Chief among the Egyptian-brokered concessions was dissolving the so-called administration committee, seen as a rival government to the Abbas-led administration in the West Bank. "The administrative committee in the Gaza Strip is no longer functioning," Haniyeh told a news conference at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

"We are ready now to receive the national consensus government to enter the Gaza Strip." He added that the party was ready to return to Egypt for direct talks with Fatah over the next steps.

"We are ready to return in a few days to Cairo to resume the dialogue," Haniyeh added, stressing he was "committed to the success" of reconciliation. On Monday Haniyeh spoke with Abbas for the first time in nearly a year, and Fatah officials have said they expect prime minister Rami Hamdallah to visit Gaza in the coming days.

Hamas forced Fatah out of Gaza in a near civil war in 2007, and multiple previous attempts at reconciliation have failed. A poll on Tuesday found that two thirds of Palestinians want Abbas to stand down, with just a quarter supporting the 82-year-old.