Fatah vows not to let Hamas ‘replicate its actions’ in West Bank, slams Iran

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party issues a rare statement vowing not to “allow Hamas, which sacrificed the interests of the Palestinian people for Iran and caused destruction in the Gaza Strip, to replicate its actions in the West Bank.”

The statement comes as Fatah seeks to rally public opinion in support of its ongoing security operation in the Jenin refugee camp targeting Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other armed terror groups who have gradually gained prominence in the northern West Bank.

The statement notably calls out not just Hamas, but also Iran, which Fatah accuses of bankrolling the various armed groups throughout the West Bank, particularly the so-called Jenin Brigade.

Fatah tears into Hamas’s decision to launch a war against Israel with its October 7 onslaught, which Abbas’s party says has led to the death or injury of over 200,000 Palestinians and “catastrophic conditions” in the Gaza Strip.

“Hamas is now attempting to stir security chaos in the West Bank, thereby continuing its policy that brought disaster upon the Palestinian people,” Fatah says, appearing to again reject Hamas’s strategy of armed conflict with Israel.