Rami Hamdallah
Rami HamdallahReuters

The Palestinian Authority (PA) government, headed by Rami Hamdallah, on Tuesday met in Ramallah and denounced Israel's destruction of a terrorist tunnel leading from Gaza into Israel, during which terrorists were killed, including a senior member of the Islamic Jihad.

"At the start of the weekly meeting in Ramallah, headed by Rami Hamdallah, we sent a message of mourning for the martyrs of the crime committed by the occupation forces yesterday in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the deaths of nine civilians, with five civilians still missing, and the wounding of 14 civilians whose injuries were described as serious," said a statement from the Ramallah-based government.

"The government strongly condemned this aggression by stressing that the international community, and first and foremost the U.S. administration, must take aggressive measures to force Israel to cease all attacks on our people and to act to provide international protection to the Palestinian people," it added.

On Monday, the Fatah faction which is headed by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement condemning what it called "the Israeli crime directed against our people in Gaza, which resulted in the deaths of eight civilians and the wounding of 14 others."

These statements of condemnation come from Fatah, which is often touted by the West as a “peace partner” for Israel. The group has in the past praised and even encouraged terrorist attacks against Israelis.

Fatah recently signed a reconciliation agreement with Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization. The agreement stipulates that the PA is to resume full control of Hamas-controlled Gaza by December 1.

The Israeli Cabinet has made clear that it would not negotiate with the new Palestinian unity government until Hamas recognizes Israel, disarms, and severs its ties with Iran.

Hamas has already ignored this demand and sent a high-ranking delegation to Iran, where its deputy leader, sanctioned terrorist Salah Al-Aruri, declared that the group would never agree to sever its ties with Iran and give up the armed struggle against “the Zionist regime”.