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Hamas, Jihad Refuse to Attend Palestinian Leadership Meeting

Hamas, Jihad Refuse to Attend Palestinian Leadership Meeting
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Hamas, Jihad Refuse to Attend Palestinian Leadership Meeting

Hamas, Jihad Refuse to Attend Palestinian Leadership Meeting

Hamas and Islamic Jihad refused to attend the Palestinian leadership talks scheduled for Saturday to discuss an action plan against possible Israeli decisions to annex parts of the West Bank.

Hamas said that it had not received any official invitation to attend the meeting, stressing its readiness to participate in any serious talks that could bring about the required change in the Palestinian situation.

The movement called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to invite the secretaries-general of the Palestinian factions and forces, to an urgent meeting based on an adequate mechanism, in order to work on an effective national strategy to face the annexation plan.

The Islamic Jihad Movement has also announced that it would not attend the gathering in Ramallah.

In a brief press statement, the movement said: “The Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine has received an invitation to attend the talks to be held in Ramallah next Saturday, May 16, under the title of the Leadership Meeting.”

The Jihad added that it supported “every constructive and sincere effort to restore unity and confront the occupation,” but stressed that any leadership meeting should include the secretaries-general of the different factions “to discuss the risks to the national cause… and start rebuilding on new foundations that achieve partnership and end division.”

The Palestinian leadership has conveyed invitations to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements to attend a scheduled meeting next Saturday, dedicated to announcing the strategy to respond to any possible Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank.

The PLO’s executive member and Minister of Social Development Ahmed Majdalani had confirmed that the two movements, in addition to the Popular Front, would participate in the discussions.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have participated in the last talks to discuss US President Donald Trump’s announcement of his Middle East peace plan.

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UN: Israel's War Plans Threaten 'Continued Existence' of Palestinians in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the damage at a school used as a shelter by displaced residents that was hit twice by Israeli army strikes on Tuesday, killing more than 25 people, in Bureij, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians inspect the damage at a school used as a shelter by displaced residents that was hit twice by Israeli army strikes on Tuesday, killing more than 25 people, in Bureij, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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UN: Israel's War Plans Threaten 'Continued Existence' of Palestinians in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the damage at a school used as a shelter by displaced residents that was hit twice by Israeli army strikes on Tuesday, killing more than 25 people, in Bureij, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians inspect the damage at a school used as a shelter by displaced residents that was hit twice by Israeli army strikes on Tuesday, killing more than 25 people, in Bureij, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The UN rights chief voiced deepened concerns Wednesday that Israel's plans to expand its offensive in Gaza aim to create conditions threatening Palestinians' "continued existence" in the territory.

Israel's military has called up tens of thousands of reservists for an expanded offensive in the Gaza Strip, which an official said would entail the "conquest" of the Palestinian territory.

"Israel's reported plans to forcibly transfer Gaza's population to a small area in the south of the Strip and threats by Israeli officials to deport Palestinians outside of Gaza further aggravate concerns that Israel's actions are aimed at inflicting on Palestinians conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence in Gaza as a group," Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement.

"There is no reason to believe that doubling down on military strategies, which, for a year and eight months, have not led to a durable resolution, including the release of all hostages, will now succeed," he said.

"Instead, expanding the offensive on Gaza will almost certainly cause further mass displacement, more deaths and injuries of innocent civilians, and the destruction of Gaza's little remaining infrastructure."

Nearly all of the Palestinian territory's 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once during the war, sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

A more than two-month Israeli blockade on all aid into Gaza has worsened the humanitarian crisis.

According to AFP, Turk warned that stepping up the Israeli offensive "would only compound the misery and suffering inflicted by the complete blockade on the entry of basic goods for almost nine weeks now".

"Gaza's residents have already been deprived of all lifesaving necessities, particularly food, with relentless Israeli attacks on community kitchens and those trying to maintain a minimum of law and order," he said.

"Any use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of war constitutes a war crime," Turk said, adding that "the only lasting solution to this crisis lies through full compliance with international law".

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 2,507 people had been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in mid-March, bringing the overall death toll from the war to 52,615.