GAZA (AA) - As the Israeli-Palestinian issue retains its spot on the global political agenda as a source of instability in a volatile Middle East, the Egypt's recent turmoil seems to have taken its toll on an already precarious humanitarian situation in the Palestinian city of Gaza.
Following the July 3 military coup that deposed the country's first democratically elected president, Egypt's interim government reportedly destroyed most of the tunnels that link the Gaza Strip to the Sinai Peninsula, which act as the lifeline of support for a population nearing half a million, on the grounds that they were used in the orchestration of violence in the peninsula.
Recently, the army-backed government has also decided to close the Rafah border crossing, effectively depriving the Gazans of their only channel of access to the international community as they continue to bear the brunt of a long-drawn-out Israeli blockade.
Amid mounting concerns over living conditions in the city, Palestinian analysts say the only feasible solution to the ongoing humanitarian and economic crisis is reconciliation between the Fatah and Hamas, which wield control over the respective Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
"Egypt has aggravated existing circumstances in the region. The Gazans need a government that is capable of meeting their demands and working to overcome crises," Abu Saada, professor of political science at al-Azhar University in Gaza, told Anadolu Agency.
The dire state in Gaza eats away at the political power of the Hamas movement, Abu Saada said, pointing to a thaw between Hamas and Fatah as the easiest way out of the crisis.
Palestinian journalist and author Dalal Avakil said other options would be "uphill challenges" for Hamas.
"Israel is Hamas's enemy. Egypt also appear to take a hostile stance. There is bitterness between Hamas and the Palestinian authority (in the West Bank)".
"Hamas has lost the support of its foreign allies, while the public is suffering under the crisis. The best way to overcome all this is national reconciliation."
Fatah and Hamas launched negotiations after agreeing on the terms of reconciliation in meetings held in the Egyptian capital of Cairo in January.
However, the planned talks in February on holding elections and forming a new government were called off, with no signs of revival seven months later.
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