The deputy speaker of the Palestinian parliament Ahmad Bahar has accused the national unity government and its prime minister Rami Hamdallah of "negligence" towards Gaza, the Ma’an news agency reported on Thursday.
Speaking at a symposium held in Gaza City, Bahar urged the government to fulfill its duties in Gaza, particularly the reconstruction of buildings destroyed by Israeli forces and the payment of monthly salaries to civil servants who were employed by the former Hamas-run government.
"We still want the national consensus government and we will support it in its work especially the reconstruction of Gaza," he added, but called for the government to carry out its duties in return.
Bahar also called upon Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to deploy PA security officers at Gaza crossings and along the borders with Egypt in order to speed up the promised opening of the Rafah crossing into Egypt.
Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah faction formed a unity government several months ago after years of tension following Hamas’s violent takeover of Gaza in 2007.
However, there have been multiple reports over the past several months that the unity government itself has been slowly crumbling.
Differences of opinion have surfaced over several issues, including the war in Gaza, reactions to the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers, and the delayed payment of wages for government workers in Gaza in the weeks leading up to Operation Protective Edge.
More recently, the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) revealed that a large-scale coup had been planned by Hamas in Judea and Samaria to overthrow the PA and Abbas's Fatah party, in orders given from Hamas officials abroad.
Shortly after the plot was revealed, Abbas said the information could have lasting implications for the Palestinian Arab people.