Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority is under European pressure to refrain from further sanctions on Gaza, according to PA sources cited on Monday night by the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation.
During the past 10 days there was a telephone conversation between Abbas and German Chancellor Angel Merkel, in which she asked him not to impose new sanctions on Gaza so that the situation in Gaza would not worsen. She also told Abbas that she would soon talk with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah As-Sisi to promote a solution for Gaza Strip. Various other European parties had recently urged Abbas not to impose new sanctions on Gaza, including European Union foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini.