Abbas Reshuffles Unity Govt with Hamas, Claims ISIS Is Already in Gaza, ‘No Sense Denying It’

(JNi.media) The Palestinian Authority on Thursday announced that a long awaited reshuffle of the Palestinian cabinet had been agreed upon, Ma’an reported. The new ministers will be sworn-in on Friday, after prayers in the Palestinian Presidential headquarters in Ramallah.

Hamas said Thursday that the unity government’s reshuffle was “unconstitutional and outside consensus.” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the reshuffle represents a coup against the unity deal.

On Wednesday, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas admitted that the Islamic State is already present in the Gaza Strip.

The unity government was formed in June 2014, in an attempt to bridge the gap between the PLO and Hamas, but so far the government has not been a success story.

More on ISIS in Gaza: On the morning of June 19, six cars belonging to high ranking Hamas officials exploded simultaneously, with ISIS claiming credit for the attacks.

In an early July interview with the Al-Quds TV channel, Moussa Abu Marzouk, a member of the Hamas politburo, referred to a video in which fighters of the Islamic State holler threatening messages at Hamas.

“Why do they want to turn Gaza into a sea of blood, and what is the ability of this organization to actually pose such a threat?” Abu Marzouk asked, and added: “There are dozens of [ISIS activists in the Gaza Strip], but they are not organized, and I think the jails are not wide enough [to contain them].”