Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced on Tuesday morning that 14 Palestinian factions, including the rival groups of the Hamas terror organization and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah, agreed to a deal to work toward a national unity government to govern Palestinians, including those in Gaza after the war.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group was one of the signatories as well.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz responded to the report by stating: “Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement in China for joint control of Gaza after the war. Instead of rejecting terrorism, Mahmud Abbas embraces the murderers and rapists of Hamas, revealing his true face.”

“In reality, this won’t happen because Hamas’s rule will be crushed, and Abbas will be watching Gaza from afar. Israel’s security will remain solely in Israel’s hands.”

The two rival Palestinian terror groups, along with 12 other political factions, met with Yi in Beijing, concluding talks that started Sunday, according to a post on social media platform Weibo from Chinese TV network CGTN.

The agreement also underscores China’s growing role in Middle East diplomacy, with success in the restoration of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

“But to be sure, China is still the process of trying to earn credibility as a global mediator,” said James Char, a research fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

A joint statement issued after the most recent talks in Beijing gave no details on how or when the government would be formed, saying only that it would be done “by agreement among the factions.” According to the joint statement, the two groups are committed to the creation of a Palestinian state on lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

Hamas previously said it would accept a state based on 1967 borders, while also refusing to officially recognize Israel. The Palestinian Authority, meanwhile, abides by interim peace agreements with Israel signed in the early 1990s.

Fatah and Hamas have been rivals since Hamas violently routed forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah in Gaza in 2007, taking over the impoverished coastal enclave.

The two groups signed the Beijing Declaration on “ending division and strengthening Palestinian unity,” according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Fatah and Hamas have been rivals since Hamas violently routed forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah in Gaza in 2007, taking over the coastal enclave.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem & AP)