A senior Fatah official said Sunday that talks are ongoing to form a unity government, despite objections by Hamas that the process lacks a cross-party consensus.

Amin Maqboul, a senior official in Fatah, told Ma’an that “talks have not failed, and we’re still seeking to form a unity government despite Hamas preconditions.”

Fatah will continue to discuss the matter with Hamas, he added, and the consensus government formed following a reshuffle last week will stick to its schedule of the reconstruction of Gaza.

“It is a government for both the West Bank and Gaza strip which looks forward to rebuilding war-torn Gaza and solving its problems, but Hamas is setting preconditions which widen the gap between Gaza strip and the West Bank.”

According to the official, Hamas has demanded that any new unity government pay the salaries for all civil servants of the former Hamas government, an issue dating back to 2014 when the unity government was first formed.

Maqboul said that the demand contradicts what was agreed between Hamas and Fatah as part of the reconciliation deal in April 2014.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official, said last week that Hamas would reject any reshuffle without the consensus of all political parties, and that the Hamdallah-led government has neglected Gaza in every way possible.

Hamas leadership has largely rejected the Fatah-led PLO takeover of the government forming process, arguing that any unity government should be a non-political entity, carrying out tasks agreed upon by all factions.

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) warned Sunday that a new unity government formed without the support of all Palestinian factions would deepen the divide between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The leftist party said that a cabinet reshuffle currently being carried out within the government was not enough, and urged Hamas to think wisely about its preconditions for a new unity government rather than complicating the already difficult situation.

Tensions are running high between Hamas and Fatah after Palestinian Authority security forces detained100 Hamas affiliates in the West Bank.

Adnan Dmeiri, spokesman for the PA security services, has said the arrests were for “security reasons” and will continue as long as there is a threat, denying that Palestinians were being detained for their political affiliations.

Representatives of Palestinian factions including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine held a joint press conference in Gaza City on Saturday to express their condemnation of the arrests. MAANNEWS