Officials of Palestinian ruling Fatah movement announced Tuesday that they agreed to postpone the local election re-vote scheduled on Wednesday in the Gaza Strip.

"Fatah movement is positively responding to the highest follow-up committee's request to postpone the local election re-vote," senior Fatah leader Abdallah al Ifranji said.

Ibrahim Abu al-Najja, head of the National-Islamic Palestinian Follow-up Committee, told reporters earlier Tuesday that there are intensive efforts made by his committee to postpone Wednesday's ballots to prevent any escalating conflict between Hamas and Fatah.

"We respect the Palestinian courts decisions and we believe that any decision issued by these courts is issued by the Palestinian people's consensus," said al Ifranji.

The local election highest commission had decided to revote in 63 voting stations in Rafah, al Bureij and Beit Lahya in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, June 1.

But Hamas announced Tuesday to boycott the re-vote, which was strongly condemned by Fatah.

"Such a move means that Hamas does not respect the Palestinian law and Palestinian courts," al Ifranji told a news conference.

He added that Fatah accepted the postponement "because it believes that reinforcing the Palestinian national unity is more important than winning in this municipal council or that one."

Source: Xinhua