Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party hit back at criticism on Friday by Hamas and other factions over his appointment of a new prime minister they said could deepen divisions as the war with Israel in Gaza rages.
But the factions said in a statement Friday that “making individual decisions, and engaging in formal steps that are devoid of substance, like forming a new government without national consensus, is a reinforcement of a policy of exclusion and the deepening of division”. He accepted the appointment and said in a letter to Abbas published on Friday he was “well aware of the severity of the… dire circumstances that the Palestinian people are going through”.
The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures. Analysts have said Mustafa’s closeness to Abbas would limit chances for major reform of the Palestinian Authority.