Palestinian PM urges Hamas to allow government empowerment

JERUSALEM: Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah urged the Islamic movement Hamas on Saturday to allow the empowerment of the national unity government in the Gaza Strip as a necessity for attaining internal reconciliation.

Hamdallah said in a statement that President Mahmoud Abbas and the government were ready to shoulder all necessary responsibilities toward the Gaza Strip as the government has been enabled to take over powers there, Xinhua reported.

He made the remarks during an event in Anbata, near Nablus in northern West Bank.

Up to 20,000 employees from Hamas have been enlisted in the 2018 budget, he said, and an approach is underway to resolve all stalled issues that are hindering smooth handover processes of the administrative jurisdictions from Hamas to the Palestinian National Authority.

The prime minister called on the Islamic group to enable the government to collect tax-related fees, impose full control on the crossings and allow the domestic police to enforce public order in the coastal enclave.

Meanwhile, Hamas movement said it had handed over all the governments departments to the Palestinian government following the agreement reached on Oct. 20, 2017 in Cairo, Egypt.