Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas confirmed that the aim of assassinating the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, was to prolong the war and expand its scope, noting that this operation would have a negative impact on the ongoing negotiations to end the war on Gaza.

President Abbas said in statements to the Russian Sputnik Agency before his visit to Moscow: "We strongly condemn the assassination of the head of the political bureau of Hamas and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. We consider this a cowardly act and a dangerous development in Israeli policy. There is no doubt that the goal of killing Haniyeh is to prolong the war and expand its scope."

He pointed out that "the Israeli occupation authorities are required to abandon their ambitions, stop their aggressive actions against our people and our cause, respect international law and implement the Arab Peace Initiative, as well as an immediate and sustainable ceasefire and withdrawal of forces from the Gaza Strip."

Regarding national reconciliation in Palestine, President Abbas stressed that work is underway to unite the land and people and “achieve Palestinian reconciliation. We called on all Palestinian factions to meet in the city of El Alamein in Egypt in July of last year, and before that we held many meetings and gatherings in order to achieve national reconciliation. We welcomed all international and Arab efforts, especially the efforts made by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Russia and China recently, to reach an agreement that ends the division and leads to ending the repercussions of the Hamas coup in the Gaza Strip in 2007, and to commit to one authority, one law and one legitimate weapon.”

The Palestinian President stressed that "if Hamas agrees to the reconciliation requirements, then consultations will certainly take place in accordance with the law regarding the establishment of a national unity government after the end of the war in Gaza."

He pointed out that "the establishment of a national unity government in Palestine will take place after the legislative and presidential elections, and this requires achieving national reconciliation and ending the division on the aforementioned foundations, and under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which has not been achieved so far."

Abbas stressed that "our first goal now is to stop the war on our Palestinian people, and work on rebuilding what was destroyed. The appointment of the current Palestinian government 3 months ago came to strengthen the steadfastness of our people in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem, improve services and implement an important institutional reform program."

He stressed that "regarding the financial crisis, as you know, Israel is siphoning off millions of dollars in tax money that it collects on our behalf in exchange for a fee, which is a right of the Palestinian people according to the Paris Protocol, and that withholding these funds is a violation of international law that we will not remain silent about, and this has created a major financial and economic crisis, especially with regard to our ability to fulfill the Palestinian government's obligations towards our people."