The Palestinian Authority’s lawmaking body, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), has rejected a proposal by leftist Israeli party Meretz that would allow an international force in the PA-controlled Gaza region. Terrorist group Hamas, the current majority leader of the PA, has rejected the proposal as well.

PA Minister Mahmoud Barghouti called the proposal “inflammatory” and “a rejection of our democratic system.” Barghouti accused Meretz of attempting to avoid the establishment of a PA-ruled state in Gaza.

Hamas spokesman Salah Bardawil said that if Arab nations have available troops, “why don’t they use them to put an end to the Israeli violence.” He blamed the fighting between Hamas and PA coalition partner Fatah on “Israeli conspiracies and interference...agents and collaborators,” and rejected any attempt to show the fighting in Gaza as “merely a humanitarian issue.”