Mahmoud Abbas calls on Hamas to swiftly agree hostage deal with Israel

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday called on Hamas, a rival of the PA, to make haste in agreeing to a deal with Israel in order to save the Gaza Strip from Israel’s military offensive, Report informs, citing The Times of Israel.

“We call on the Hamas movement to quickly complete a prisoner deal, to spare our Palestinian people from the calamity of another catastrophic event with dire consequences, no less dangerous than the Nakba of 1948,” Abbas said in a statement carried by the official Palestinian outlet Wafa.

The PA leader also called on US and Arab countries to ‘complete a prisoner deal as quickly as possible,’ as WHO warns IDF operation in Rafah could cause an ‘unfathomable catastrophe.’