GAZA CITY: The new Palestinian unity government held a Cabinet meeting in the war-battered Gaza Strip for the first time Thursday, marking the end of more than seven years of absolute Hamas control of the coastal territory.
In establishing a Gaza foothold, the Cabinet also tried to assure the international community that foreign aid for Gaza’s reconstruction will not reach Hamas, shunned by the West as a terror group.

The Cabinet meeting came three days before an international pledging conference in Cairo where Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to seek $4 billion for Gaza reconstruction after a 50-day war there this summer between Israel and Hamas.

Still, it remains unclear how much authority the Cabinet will have on the ground. It is made up of independent experts, none of whom are declared members of the two main Palestinian movements, Hamas and Fatah.
Hamas has said it would allow the ministers, who report to Abbas, to operate freely in Gaza. However, Hamas has refused to disband its security forces, creating a potentially volatile situation.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and 11 ministers arrived in Gaza from the West Bank, joining five colleagues who were already present in Gaza.

After entering Gaza through an Israeli-controlled crossing, the ministers toured the town of Beit Hanoun and the Gaza City neighborhood of Shijaiyah, both badly damaged during the war.

Hamas security forces formed cordons, linking arms, as curious and unruly crowds thronged the ministers. Later, as the visitors drove through Shijaiyah in a convoy, hundreds of people lined the street to watch, some waving and a few holding the yellow flags of Fatah.

The Cabinet convened in Abbas’ former residence in Gaza City.

“What we have seen today is horrible,” Hamdallah said at the start of the meeting. “I cried in Beit Hanoun when I saw how the people live and sleep. The priority is reconstruction” and political unification, he said.

Hamas said Thursday it would be supportive.

“This unity government was the result of a reconciliation agreement that Hamas worked hard for,” said Izzat Al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official in Doha, Qatar’s capital.
“Therefore, we have a real and serious interest in enabling it (the new government) to work successfully in Gaza.”

SOURCE: ARABNEWS.COM

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah heads the cabinet session in the Abbas’s former official resident in Gaza City, on Thursday. (AP)