Fatah–Hamas conflict

A top Hamas political official told The Associated Press the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders.

The Gaza war is speeding up Israel's "annexation" of the Palestinian economy, say analysts, who argue it has been hobbled for decades by agreements that followed the Oslo peace accords.

While the Israel-Hamas war raging since Oct. 7 has devastated swathes of Gaza, it has also hit the public finances and wider economy of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

“Since the election of the Hamas government in 2006 & the coup by which Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in June 2007 religious tension has only intensified”

Israel and Hamas both dampened hopes on Monday of a speedy breakthrough in Cairo talks towards a Gaza truce and hostage release deal after Egyptian state-linked media had reported "significant progress".

Delegations from Hamas, Qatar and the United States have arrived in Egypt "to resume a new round of negotiations" for a truce in the Gaza war, state-linked Al-Qahera News reported Sunday.
A senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that a ceasefire in Gaza may be secured "within 24 to 48 hours" if Israel accepts the Palestinian group's demands in ongoing talks.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Monday announced his government, which rules parts of the occupied West Bank, submitted its resignation, saying "new political measures" were needed given the changing reality in Gaza.

Israel kept up its deadly bombardment of war-torn Gaza as Washington vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that called for a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.

Global powers trying to navigate a way out of the spiralling crisis have so far come up short, and mediation efforts have so far failed to secure a truce to halt the fighting.

Prospects for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire dimmed Sunday after the United States signalled it would veto the latest push for a U.N. Security Council resolution and mediator Qatar acknowledged that truce talks on the other diplomatic front have hit an impasse.

Jordan's King Abdullah II appealed for a full ceasefire to end the Gaza war after talks with Joe Biden, striking a discordant note with the U.S. president who is seeking a shorter six-week pause to give Israel time to defeat Hamas.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Egypt on Tuesday as part of his latest Middle East crisis tour, seeking a new ceasefire and "an enduring end" to the Israel-Hamas war.