New Palestinian PM to be announced soon: Hamas FM

Visiting Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar said Monday in Cairo that new Palestinian Prime Minister would be announced later in the day, Egypt's MENA news agency reported.

The new prime minister would be announced later, after a meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with current Prime Minister Ismail Haneya in Gaza City on the forming of a new national unity government, al-Zahar told a press conference at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo.

The choice of new prime minister would be satisfactory to all, said al-Zahar, but he refused to go into any further details.

Al-Zahar, however, said it was important for new Palestinian government and new prime minister to complete the reform program adopted by Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction.

Al-Zahar, who is here for an urgent AL meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, said he also briefed AL Secretary General Amr Moussa on Israel's aggressions on Gaza and destruction of the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.

In the day, three Palestinians -- two Hamas militants and one schoolboy, were killed and several others injured by Israeli gunfire and missiles.

The Israeli army has been operating in northern Gaza Strip since last Wednesday. So far, at least 53 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive.

Also on Monday, a Hamas spokesman announced that Hamas had agreed with Abbas on forming a national unity government on condition of keeping the right of choosing the prime minister.

Hamas formed and led a government alone in late March. But the following boycott to the Hamas-led government by Israel, Europe and the United States has caused the worst ever political and economic crisis in the Palestinian territories.

Source: Xinhua