Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 16, 2023
From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 16, 2023
Abbas appears to walk back criticism of Hamas terror group
The Palestinian Authority’s Wafa mouthpiece has seemingly removed part of a statement in which PA President Mahmoud Abbas had criticized Hamas.
A report in Wafa initially said that Abbas told Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that Hamas’s policies and actions “do not represent the Palestinian people,” and the Palestine Liberation Organization is the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
Hamas is no longer mentioned in the statement, which now says only that the PLO is “the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and not the policies of any other organization.”
