Hamas Denies Reconciliation Talks With Rival Fatah
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A senior Hamas official has dismissed any reconciliation talks with the rival Fatah group.
His remarks Thursday followed claims by the militants that they emerged victorious after the group survived a relentless three-week offensive by Israel on the Gaza Strip.
Sami Khater, a member of the militant group's Damascus-based branch, says Arab and international donations to reconstruct the war-devastated Gaza should go directly to Hamas and not to rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose faction rules the West Bank.
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Khater says Abbas and his Palestinian Authority cannot be trusted.
Khater says a Hamas delegation will travel to Cairo this weekend for talks with Egyptian mediators on ways to consolidate a Gaza cease-fire in place since last Sunday.