OPT: Factions agree to maintain efforts to end crisis in Gaza

Gaza (dpa) - Palestinian factions, including Hamas agreed with senior Egyptian officials during a meeting in Gaza Tuesday to continue efforts to end the current crisis between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

Sa'eed Seyam, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza who attended the meeting told reporters that the crisis still existed, but efforts were being made to end it as soon as possible.

Last Thursday, as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas was arriving in Gaza for a dialogue with the factions to reinforce a ceasefire agreement reached in Cairo, Hamas militants intensified firing rockets at Israel.

Both Hamas and the PA leaders have argued over the text of the agreement. Hamas insists that according to the deal, militants have the right to respond to any Israeli attack carried out against the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Abbas and chief of the follow-up committee for national and Islamic factions, Ibrahim Abu Naja, insisted however that any response to Israeli violations had to be first agreed upon among the factions and with the PA.

Egypt sent a high-ranking Egyptian security delegation headed by General Mustafa al-Beheiri to Gaza for a series of meetings with Abbas and leaders of all the Palestinian factions and militant groups. dpa sar sr