Hamas announces ‘national unity’ deal with Fatah in Beijing

Hamas announced on Tuesday that it had signed an agreement in Beijing with other Palestinian groups, including its rival Fatah, to work together for “national unity”, with China describing it as an agreement to jointly govern Gaza once the war ends.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who hosted senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk, Fatah envoy Mahmoud al-Aloul and emissaries from 12 other Palestinian groups, said they had agreed to set up an “interim government of national reconciliation” to govern the post-war Gaza Strip.

“Today we sign an agreement for national unity and we say that the way to complete this journey is national unity. We are committed to national unity and we call for it,” Abu Marzouk said after meeting Wang and the other envoys.

The announcement comes more than nine months into a war sparked by Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to a UN report. AFP count based on Israeli figures.

The militants also took 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, 44 of whom died according to the Israeli army.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed 39,006 people, mostly civilians, and injured 89,818, according to data from the Gaza Health Ministry.

The continuing fighting has plunged Gaza into a serious humanitarian crisis.

China has sought to play a mediating role in the conflict, made more complex by the intense rivalry between Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and Fatah, which partially governs the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it destroys Hamas, and world powers, including the United States, Israel’s main backer, have struggled to imagine scenarios for the governance of Gaza once the war ends.

Neither Israel nor the United States would endorse any post-war plan that included Hamas, which Washington considers a terrorist organization.

While it is uncertain whether the deal announced Tuesday in Beijing can hold, it indicates that the only world power capable of achieving a rapprochement between the Palestinian rivals is China.

As Tuesday’s meeting wrapped up in Beijing, Wang said the groups were committed to “reconciliation.”

“The highlight is the agreement to form an interim government of national reconciliation around the governance of the post-war Gaza Strip,” Wang said after the factions signed the “Beijing Declaration” in the Chinese capital.

“Reconciliation is an internal affair of the Palestinian factions, but at the same time it cannot be achieved without the support of the international community,” Wang said.

Fatah official Mahmoud al-Aloul thanked China for its “endless support” for the Palestinian cause.

“To China, you have our love, you have all our friendship, from all the Palestinian people,” he said.

In particular, he did not mention whether an agreement had been reached with Hamas and other factions.

Also present at Tuesday’s meeting were envoys from Egypt, Algeria and Russia, Wang said.

Egypt, which neighbours Israel and Gaza, is a key mediator in the conflict.

Algeria is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and has drafted resolutions on the war.

As Western powers seek to isolate Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, China maintains its strategic partnership with Moscow.

China, Wang said, is willing to “play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and stability in the Middle East.”

He also called for a “comprehensive, lasting and sustainable ceasefire,” as well as efforts to promote Palestinian self-governance and full recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN.

Hamas and Fatah have been bitter rivals since Hamas fighters drove Fatah out of the Gaza Strip after deadly clashes that followed Hamas’s resounding victory in 2006 elections.

Fatah controls the Palestinian Authority, which exercises partial administrative control over the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Several attempts at reconciliation have failed, but calls have grown since the Hamas attack in October and the nine-month war in Gaza, while Israeli raids and settler violence against Palestinians have also increased in the West Bank, where Fatah is based.

China hosted Fatah and Hamas in April, but a meeting planned for June was postponed.

China has always been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

China has positioned itself as a more neutral player in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than its rival the United States, advocating a two-state solution while maintaining good relations with Israel.

And it has sought to play a greater role in the Middle East in recent years, facilitating last year’s historic rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran.