Palestine: Mahmoud Abbas picks loyalist Mohammed Shtayyeh as prime minister

Speaking to Palestine Television, Mohammed Shtayyeh said he would immediately begin consultations with factions belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organization, which Abbas heads, on forming a new cabinet.

Economist Mohammed Shtayyeh, a member of the West Bank’s dominant Fatah party, was named Palestinian prime minister on Sunday in what the rival Hamas group that runs Gaza called a blow to unity efforts.

The appointment was announced six weeks after Rami al-Hamdallah tendered his resignation from the post and the resignation of his unity government to President Mahmoud Abbas, underscoring the failure of Hamas and Fatah to implement a power-sharing deal.

Speaking to Palestine Television, Shtayyeh said he would immediately begin consultations with factions belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organization, which Abbas heads, on forming a new cabinet.

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Israel blocks fuel transfer to Gaza

Israel has ordered an immediate halt of fuel deliveries to the besieged Gaza Strip on the same day that IDF killed at least seven Palestinians during the weekly protests along the Gaza border. #Gaza #Israel #Palestine

Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since seizing the enclave from Fatah in 2007, is not a member of the PLO. Ismail Rudwan, a senior official in the Islamist group, said the creation of “a separatist government … will prolong Palestinian division”.

Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal in November 2017 calling for Abbas’ West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) to resume governing in Gaza and take control of its crossing points into Egypt and Israel.