Palestinian groups criticize Abbas for blaming Hamas for Gaza war

Several Palestinian groups condemned President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday for blaming Hamas for Israel’s war against Gaza.

Hours after Israeli airstrikes killed at least 90 Palestinians in the Al-Mawasi neighborhood of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian presidential office issued a statement blaming the Israeli and U.S. governments for the massacre, while saying Hamas also bore some blame.

The Prime Minister accused the US of “supporting the occupation and its crimes in every possible way. These crimes are a link in the chain of massacres committed daily in Gaza and the West Bank.” He added that these were war crimes and genocide that violate international law.

Abbas further said that Hamas was “a partner that bears legal, moral and political responsibility for the continuation of Israel’s genocidal war in the Gaza Strip” by bypassing national unity and creating “pretexts against the occupying state”.

He called on Hamas to give priority to national interests and remove the pretexts for ending the Israeli war.

Hamas has since condemned Abbas’ statement. Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said: Reuters The Palestinian Authority has decided to stand on the side of the occupation, and with such a stance it will not be possible to blackmail or put pressure on the resistance.

The group also called on the presidency to retract these “regrettable” statements and stressed that Israel and the United States bear responsibility for the ongoing war.

Fatah leader Munir al-Jaghoub found the statement “insulting” to the Palestinian people. At the same time, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine also condemned the statement.

“There is broad popular and national solidarity with the resistance. This requires all national forces, including the Fatah movement and the leadership of the Authority, to adhere to the position of the national consensus, stand firmly by the side of the resistance, and refrain from justifying the crimes of the occupation or identifying with its media propaganda,” the front said in a statement.

The organization calls on all national parties to stop making such statements that increase tensions, but instead to work more closely to promote a common position and advocate for the Palestinian state rather than reinforcing the Israeli narrative.

Although Abbas ruled the State of Palestine for nearly two decades, his rule was controversial.

Activists accused the prime minister of not being more active in opposing the Israeli occupation. The majority of the Palestinian diaspora, however, criticizes him and describes him as a “jammer for Palestinian democratic progress,” according to Palestine and Israel researcher Emad Moussa.

In the Israeli war against Gaza, more than 38,584 Palestinians have been killed since October and at least 88,881 others have been injured in the same period. Around 10,000 more are said to still be buried under the rubble.

The war against the besieged enclave has razed entire neighborhoods to the ground and plunged Gaza into a serious humanitarian crisis.