Hamas Wants Russia to Push Abbas Towards Unity Government

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov meets Hamas leaders in Moscow (File Photo)
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov meets Hamas leaders in Moscow (File Photo)
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Hamas Wants Russia to Push Abbas Towards Unity Government

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov meets Hamas leaders in Moscow (File Photo)
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov meets Hamas leaders in Moscow (File Photo)

Hamas wants Russia to push Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to begin negotiations on a national unity government for post-war Gaza, a senior Hamas official told the Russian RIA state news agency after talks in Moscow.
Mousa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas politburo member, met Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov in Moscow.
“We discussed issues related to Palestinian national unity and the creation of a government that should govern the Gaza Strip after the war,” Abu Marzouk was quoted as saying by RIA.
He said that Hamas had asked Russia to encourage Abbas, who is attending the BRICS summit in Kazan, to start negotiations about a unity government, RIA reported.
Abbas is head of the Palestinian Authority (PA), the governing body of the occupied Palestinian territories.
The PA was set up three decades ago under the interim peace agreement known as the Oslo Accords and exercises limited governance over parts of the occupied West Bank, which Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state.
The PA, controlled by Abbas' Fatah political faction, has long had a strained relationship with Hamas, and the two factions fought a brief war before Fatah was expelled from the territory in 2007.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed strong opposition to the PA being involved in running Gaza.



Israel Strikes Near Defense Ministry in Damascus

Syrian security forces deploy amid ongoing clashes in the southern city of Sweida, 16 July 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED AL RIFAI
Syrian security forces deploy amid ongoing clashes in the southern city of Sweida, 16 July 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED AL RIFAI
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Israel Strikes Near Defense Ministry in Damascus

Syrian security forces deploy amid ongoing clashes in the southern city of Sweida, 16 July 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED AL RIFAI
Syrian security forces deploy amid ongoing clashes in the southern city of Sweida, 16 July 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED AL RIFAI

The Israeli army said Wednesday that it struck near the entrance to the Syrian Ministry of Defense in Damascus.

The strike came as clashes continued in the southern Syrian city of Sweida after a ceasefire between government forces and armed groups collapsed.

Israel has launched a series of airstrikes on convoys of government forces since the clashes erupted, saying that it is acting to protect the Druze.