The Palestinian Authority Tuesday welcomed
the calm agreement reached between Israel and the Islamic Hamas movement in the
Gaza Strip through the mediation of Egypt, dpa
reported.
A statement by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' office in Ramallah
said Abbas, who has just concluded a one-day visit to Kuwait, "followed
with interest the calm agreement reached between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza
Strip and which is supposed to take effect Thursday morning."
It said "the president believes the calm is in the national interest of
our people."
Egypt announced Tuesday evening that an agreement was reached between Israel
and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip since June of last year after
overthrowing the Palestinian Authority security forces in a days-long gun
battle.
The agreement is supposed to take effect Thursday at 6 am.
However, Israel Tuesday killed seven Palestinians in three different air raids
on the Gaza Strip and Palestinians fired several rounds of home-made missiles
into Israeli towns neighbouring the Gaza Strip without causing any serious
injury or damage.
The statement said Abbas "calls on all the factions in
the Gaza Strip to abide by the agreement for the sake of the higher interest or
our people, to lift the siege imposed on our people and to end the division and
reunite our country under its legitimate leadership."