"The Fatah movement in southern provinces has decided, in the interests of our people, to cancel the celebration of the 54th anniversary of the Palestinian revolution in the city of Gaza, planned for Monday, 7 January", the statement, obtained by Sputnik, read.
"As a result of continued arrests and harassment by Hamas against our personnel as well as attempts to undermine their work, we have decided that, starting from tomorrow morning [Monday], we will withdraw the entire staff of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), working at the Rafah crossing point", the statement read
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Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Qanoua said, on his part, that the decision was part of a plan to divide Gaza under the "deal of the century", a Middle East settlement plan, that the United States has been working on since Donald Trump has assumed the presidency.
In 2017, they agreed to govern the Gaza enclave and the West Bank together but missed the December 2017 deadline to form a functioning cabinet over differences.
