GAZA CITY
Gaza's Interior Ministry on Monday released ten prisoners affiliated with rival Palestinian faction Fatah, which rules the occupied West Bank.
In a statement, the ministry said the ten Fatah members had been detained in Gaza for security reasons.
It added that the prisoner release came in advance of a visit to Gaza by a Fatah-led delegation from the West Bank.
"There are no political detainees in Gaza's prisons," the Interior Ministry asserted, adding that the ten Fatah-affiliated prisoners had been jailed for harming the Gaza Strip's security.
Interior Ministry spokesman Eiad al-Bozum said the prisoner release was a goodwill gesture aimed at promoting reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, the latter of which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007.
He said that those released had all been serving jail terms of between one and three years each.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has commissioned a delegation – to be led by members of Abbas' Fatah movement – to discuss possible means of achieving reconciliation with Hamas officials.
Relations between Hamas and Fatah have been tense since 2007, when the Islamist movement seized control of the Gaza Strip following deadly clashes with Fatah loyalists.
The confrontation came one year after Hamas defeated Fatah in Palestinian legislative polls.
By Ola Attalah
englishnews@aa.com.tr
