GAZA CITY
The Interior Ministry in the Gaza Strip announced on Monday that it would release six Fatah prisoners later in the day as a goodwill gesture to pave the road for reconciliation with the rival Palestinian movement.
The ministry said in a statement that the six Fatah members were in Gaza jails for security reasons.
It said the release of the prisoners comes ahead of a visit to Gaza by a Fatah-led delegation from the West Bank.
In its statement, the Interior Ministry expressed its full support to reconciliation efforts between Palestinian factions.
"There are no political detainees in Gaza prisons," the Interior Ministry said in the statement, adding that the six Fatah prisoners were put in jail for perpetrating actions that harm the enclave's security.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has commissioned a delegation led by members from his Fatah movement, which rules the occupied West Bank, to visit Gaza, ruled by Hamas, to discuss mechanisms for reconciliation between the two movements.
Relations between Hamas and Fatah have been tense since the Islamist movement seized full control of the Gaza Strip following deadly clashes with Fatah in 2007, months after Hamas defeated Fatah in the parliamentary election.
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