Gulf deal serves Palestinian cause: Hamas chief

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday hailed Gulf reconciliation as a major step that serves the Palestinian cause.

This came in a message sent by Haniyeh to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"Hamas sees this [Gulf] reconciliation as an important step in promoting joint action towards serving the Palestinian cause amid challenges posed by the [Israeli] occupation, Judaization and termination,” Haniyeh said in his message.

Haniyeh went on to hail Saudi efforts toward healing the Gulf rift “as part of the kingdom’s historic role in serving the issues of the nation”.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt signed a reconciliation deal on Tuesday during the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit to end more than three years of feud with Qatar.

The deal resulted in Saudi Arabia and UAE opening its airspace and land and sea border to Qatar.

*Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara