Mohammed Dahlan
Mohammed DahlanMichal Fattal/Flash 90

Hamas has thanked a key rival of Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas for his help in securing assistance to Gaza from the UAE, i24NEWS reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, as the aid made its way from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, Hamas expressed gratitude both to Abu Dhabi as well as to Mohammed Dahlan's Democratic Reform Bloc.

Dahlan, a former security chief in Gaza under Abbas' Fatah faction, was ousted from the party in 2011 and fled to Dubai. His home in Ramallah was later raided by PA security forces.

Abbas has accused Dahlan of, among other things, collaborating with Israel to eliminate a senior Hamas terrorist in 2002.

Dahlan was sentenced in absentia in 2016 to three years in prison for allegedly embezzling $16 million while serving as a cabinet minister.

He remains in the UAE, where he is advising the ruling family on Palestinian affairs. According to some of the available reports, he was involved with the recent normalization deal between Abu Dhabi and Jerusalem.

According to i24NEWS, the shipment that arrived in Gaza over the weekend was the second in recent weeks as the enclave works to curb the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus.

It is said to include equipment for setting up Gaza's first oxygen production plant, as well as 30 lung ventilation machines and other medical supplies.