Gaza
GazaFlash 90

The Palestinian Authority (PA) government in Ramallah admitted on Tuesday it has no control over the situation in Gaza, accusing Hamas officials of thwarting efforts to achieve Palestinian reconciliation by not allowing the government to exercise its responsibilities in the coastal enclave.

Yusuf al-Mahmoud, a spokesman for the PA government, said that Hamas officials are working to manufacture crises and to cover the mistakes they make on issues such as electricity supply, which was a bone of contention between Hamas and the PA.

He further said that the Ramallah government allocates nearly half of its budget to Gaza and pays 80 million shekels per month which goes towards supply electricity for at least 8-12 hours a day. Al-Mahmoud argued that because of Hamas's control of Gaza, electricity supplies are at times reduced to three hours a day.

Hamas took over Gaza from PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah in a bloody coup in 2007.

Since that time, the two sides have been at odds and attempts to reconcile between them have all failed.

A unity government between Hamas and Fatah collapsed in 2015 when Abbas decided to dissolve it amid a deepening rift between the sides.

Since the unity government was dissolved, Hamas and Fatah have held several rounds of reconciliation talks in Doha, Qatar – but with no success.