Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement on Friday marked its 48-year anniversary in the Gaza Strip, for the first time in six years.
On trucks, in cars or just walking on foot, the huge crowds of Fatah gathered at an open yard in Gaza City's center to attend a central rally that marks the anniversary of the movement, which was found in January 1965.
"This million-man-woman rally is a message to Israel and to Hamas movement and to the Palestinian people," Amal Hamad, a Palestinian female member of Fatah movement's central committee from Gaza, told Xinhua.
"The crowds came to tell Hamas that we are eager for reconciliation and unity, and tell (Benjamin) Netanyahu, the Israeli premier that the Palestinian state will be established soon whether he accepts it or not," said Hamad.
Hamas movement had violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 and routed the security forces of Abbas. Over the past six years, Hamas banned any activity or holding rally by Fatah.
Faisal Abu Shahla, a Fatah lawmaker in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), told Xinhua that Fatah movement "is for unity and for ending the internal division."
"The hundreds of thousands took to the streets to renew the pledge of allegiance to President Abbas and to tell Hamas movement that Fatah is a hard rigid that can never be deleted," said Abu Shahla