ShareBEIJING/GAZA: Hamas announced Tuesday it had signed an agreement in Beijing with other Palestinian organizations including rivals Fatah to work together for “national unity”, with China describing it as a deal to rule Gaza together once the war ends. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who hosted senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk, Fatah envoy Mahmoud Al-Aloul and emissaries from 12 other Palestinian groups, said they had agreed to set up an “interim national reconciliation government” to govern post-war Gaza.
“Today we sign an agreement for national unity and we say that the path to completing this journey is national unity. We are committed to national unity and we call for it,” Abu Marzouk said after meeting Wang and the other envoys. The relentless fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis. China has sought to play a mediator role in the conflict, which has been rendered even more complex due to the intense rivalry between Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and Fatah, which partially governs the occupied West Bank.
While it is unclear whether the deal announced in Beijing on Tuesday can hold, it does indicate that the only world power that can engineer a rapprochement between the Palestinian rivals is China. As Tuesday’s meeting wrapped up in Beijing, Wang said the groups had committed to “reconciliation”.
“The most prominent highlight is the agreement to form an interim national reconciliation government around the governance of post-war Gaza,” Wang said after the factions signed the “Beijing Declaration” in the Chinese capital. “Reconciliation is an internal matter for the Palestinian factions, but at the same time, it cannot be achieved without the support of the international community,” Wang said.
Fatah official Aloul thanked China for its “unending support” for the Palestinian cause. “To China, you have our love, you have all our friendship, from all the Palestinian people,” he said. Notably, he did not mention whether any agreement had been reached with Hamas and the other factions. Also present at Tuesday’s meeting were envoys from Egypt, Algeria and Russia, according to Wang.
But the Zionist entity swiftly condemned the agreement. The diplomatic spat came as the Zionist entity hammered Gaza, including the southern city of Khan Yunis, where it had ordered a partial evacuation of civilians. Foreign Minister Israel Katz insisted that “Hamas rule will be crushed” and accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah faction signed the deal, of embracing Hamas.
Any involvement by the Islamist militant group in the post-war governance of Gaza is anathema to the United States as well as the Zionist entity. Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington to address a joint session of Congress and has vowed to continue the Gaza war until Hamas is destroyed.
Meanwhile, Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, framed China’s involvement as a way to counter US influence. He said Washington “opposes any internal Palestinian national consensus and is completely biased (and) even partners with the occupation in its crimes against our people”. Katz also rejected any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, saying “Abbas will be watching Gaza from afar”.
On the ground, the Zionist entity pressed on with the war in Gaza. Hours after it ordered civilians to evacuate parts of Khan Yunis, including areas that had been declared part of a humanitarian safe zone, its jets pounded the city. The Gaza health ministry said 73 people had been killed and more than 200 wounded in the area.
Hassan Qudayh, a resident forced to evacuate, said: “Gaza is over, Gaza is dead, Gaza has gone. There is nothing left, nothing”. AFP correspondents reported air strikes in Gaza City and Jabalia in the north of the territory, as well as Khan Yunis. More than nine months of war have obliterated much of the territory’s healthcare capacity, with what remains under immense pressure.
Mohammed Zaqout, the director of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, told AFP: “There is no space for more patients. There’s no space in the operating theatres. There is a lack of medical supplies, so we cannot save our patients.” The World Health Organization said up to 14,000 people needed medical evacuation from Gaza and that it was “extremely worried” about disease outbreaks in the territory.
Palestinian officials said a Zionist raid in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday killed five people, including a woman and her daughter. During the pre-dawn operation in Tulkarem refugee camp, Zionist drones struck and killed the head of Hamas’ military wing in Tulkarem, Ashraf Nafea, the military said in a statement. Hamas confirmed the “cowardly assassination” of commander Nafea and his companions.
The head of the camp committee told AFP Zionist troops killed five people in the operation. “A mother and her daughter were martyred and three young men were struck by a drone,” Faisal Salamah said. An activist from the camp, who asked not to be identified, confirmed the toll and told AFP the woman and her daughter were volunteers with the ambulance service. – Agencies
