Palestinian factions on Wednesday announced they were forming a united front to deal with possible Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, Xinhua reported.
Leftist groups, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), took the initiative and started to contact Gaza's Hamas rulers and the rest of the groups, Jameel Mezher, a PFLP official, told Xinhua.
"The united resistance front will define the role of the resistance, preserve the higher Palestinian interests, counter any new Israeli aggression and describe ways of response to the attacks," Mezher added.
Meanwhile, Talal Abu Zarifa, a leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), said the armed groups of the factions "would be under one reference and one operations room. "
Abu Zarifa stressed that the leftist factions will not stop their attacks on Israel "and no other faction is allowed to prevent us from carrying out our role in resistance," referring to Hamas' attempts to impose a unilateral ceasefire on the Gaza-based groups.
The leftist groups will also meet with Hamas and the less- influential Islamic Jihad to include the two Iranian-backed factions into the deal.
Over the past two weeks, Israel killed more than a dozen Palestinians in attacks inside the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Hamas' military wing did not respond to the attacks and turned a blind eye to rockets fired by smaller groups from Gaza.
But on Monday, a spokesman for Hamas' government hinted that the escalation of violence "requires an understanding on how to deal with the changing situation on the ground." For the other factions, this means an attempt to stop the rocket fire.
Daoud Shehab, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad, said his movement welcomes discussions with other factions on uniting their positions, "but will refuse that step if it would be a prelude to a commitment to stop the rocket attacks on Israel."