Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas chaired a meeting of the Fatah Central Committee this evening, Tuesday, at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah.

At the beginning of the meeting, President Abbas and members of the Central Committee recited Al-Fatiha for the souls of the martyrs of the Palestinian people. His Excellency also offered his condolences on the passing of Pope Francis, praising his virtues and his honorable support for rights, justice, peace and freedom for the Palestinian people. He also praised his recognition of the State of Palestine, raising the Palestinian flag in the Vatican, and the beatification of two Palestinian saints. He also called for an end to the suffering of our people in the Gaza Strip, opening the city of Jerusalem to believers and implementing international legitimacy there.

The Central Committee heard a detailed explanation from President Mahmoud Abbas regarding the political situation, the results of his ongoing Arab and international meetings and contacts to halt the ongoing aggression against our people, the necessity of a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, an end to the attacks on our people in the West Bank, and the need to secure further international recognition of the State of Palestine and obtain full membership in the United Nations.

The final preparations for the Central Council session scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, at the presidential headquarters were then discussed. The session will examine the latest developments in the Palestinian situation and put the Palestinian house in order to confront the challenges facing our cause and our people.

The meeting also discussed the ongoing genocidal war waged by the Israeli occupation authorities against the Palestinian people, amid international silence. This silence has only encouraged the occupation to persist in its crimes and aggression, resulting in the martyrdom and injury of more than 200,000 citizens and the widespread and systematic destruction of the Gaza Strip.

The Central Committee warned of the occupation's dangerous plans to reoccupy the Gaza Strip and dismember it, forcing our people to flee. This is unacceptable to Palestinians, Arabs, and the international community, and will not be allowed to happen thanks to our people's steadfastness and adherence to their land and homeland.

The Central Committee said that the world, especially the UN Security Council, must shoulder its responsibilities and compel the occupying state to stop the war of extermination it is waging in the Gaza Strip, and to stop the dangerous attacks launched by the occupation forces and terrorist settlers in the West Bank, especially on cities, villages and camps in the northern West Bank, and to stop the policy of executions, displacement and arrests, and the bombing of residential neighborhoods and the destruction of the infrastructure of cities, villages and camps, in addition to stopping the attacks on the holy religious sites in the occupied city of Jerusalem, especially the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Fatah Central Committee called on Hamas to stop toying with the fate of the Palestinian people according to its foreign agendas, to cooperate with the efforts made by President Mahmoud Abbas to stop the Palestinian bloodshed, to refrain from giving the occupation pretexts to continue its bloody war and aggression, which has cost thousands of our people, including martyrs, wounded, and prisoners, and to adhere to the principles upon which the Palestine Liberation Organization's policy is based.