CAIRO: Reconciliation decisions between the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas due to be held in China this month have been postponed while no new date has been finalized, Palestinian officials told the Western media on Monday.
After hosting a meeting of Palestinian groups in April, China said Fatah which is led by President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas had expressed the will to seek reconciliation through negotiations in Beijing. Earlier, Fatah and Hamas officials had said the meeting would take place in mid-June.
Analysts have expressed little hope of the talks to reach a reconciliation that could create a unified Palestinian administration for the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim, who had attended the previous talks said the meeting was postponed and no new date had been set for another meeting. He blamed Fatah for the delay.
Three Fatah officials speaking on condition of anonymity also confirmed the delay, adding the movement will issue a statement on the matter.
On Sunday eight Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a vocational college near Gaza City that was serving as a distribution center for aid, run by the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.
The strike targeted a section of an industrial college operated by the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, which was providing assistance to displaced families, witnesses reported. Neither UNRWA nor the Israeli military immediately responded to requests for comment.
Since the beginning of the Israeli ground and air campaign in Gaza, at least 37,598 Palestinians have been killed, while 86,032 have been injured, the Palestinian health authorities said.
