On Friday 13 October, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini announced that the EU was ready to support the reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo the previous day between Fatah and Hamas.
"The EU is ready to provide full support to the efforts to reunite Gaza and the West Bank under one single and legitimate Palestinian Authority. This is critical for reaching a negotiated two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict", Mogherini stated in a press release, without giving further detail. She said that the EU would continue to liaise with Egypt, the EU's interlocutors on the ground, and its international partners, including in the Quartet, "in order to help this process to succeed".
Stating that this agreement could become "an important step towards a full return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza, and for making genuine progress on intra-Palestinian reconciliation", Mogherini said that the EU would "closely study the details" of the agreement and what it will entail. "We expect all Palestinian factions to move forward in good faith in further process, in order to enable the legitimate Palestinian Authority to resume full control in Gaza", she said, hailing the continuing engagement of Egypt. "It is essential that the agreement delivers on the ground and that the situation of the people of Gaza is improved as a matter of urgency", she added.
At the end of two days of negotiation, Hamas and Fatah are reported to have decided that by 1 December the Palestinian Authority will assume "all the responsibilities" in the Gaza Strip. Around 3,000 police officers could also be deployed in Gaza. The factions will meet again on 21 November to discuss the formation of a unity government. The issue of the 25,000 members of Hamas' armed wing does not seem to have been addressed. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)