RAMALLAH, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said Wednesday that his government "is taking gradual and programmed steps" for its empowerment in Gaza Strip.
"The government is processing implications of long years of division, siege, offensives and resolving outstanding issues in order to implement the reconciliation deal and anchor unity of the country and it's institutions," he said.
The PM highlighted that the handover of governmental bodies in Gaza has allowed the government to jumpstart the process of "translating the national reconciliation into a reality on th ground through projects and programs to help our people in Gaza Strip and to meet their needs and enhance their living conditions."
Islamic Hamas movement and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Party agreed earlier in October in Cairo on measures that would empower the Palestinian government's work in the coastal enclave and take full responsibility of all affairs there by December 2017.
As he took part in the annually olive harvest festival in Taqoa village near West Bank city of Bethlehem, Hamdallah slammed Israel for undermining the Palestinian development and economy.
"Israel aims at undermining our potential and our resources, marginalizing the national productive basis and obstructing the growth and development of the national economy," he said, stressing that Israel's control over 60 percent of the West Bank "is causing sizable financial losses annually, and impedes chances of development, as confirmed by international reports."
Hamdallah explained that the decline in direct foreign aid to the government has lead to rationalizing expenditures and focusing on management of natural resources.
