Sa'eb Erekat, a member of Fatah Central Committee and chief Palestinian negotiator with Israel, said that "the reconciliation has become pressing and important, especially with Israel's recent threats to launch a new war on Gaza."

Erekat warns that Israel "searches for excuses to launch an offensive on Gaza Strip,” stressing the Palestinian factions "should maintain calm with Israeli to save the lives of Palestinian people from an expected Israeli offensive."

He made the remarks on the occasion of the second anniversary of the Israeli offensive on Gaza Strip which left some 1,400 Palestinians dead and destroyed thousands of houses.

On Thursday, the Damascus-based top Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk declared that his movement has decided to suspend reconciliation talks with Fatah. "There will not be any meeting with Fatah as long as it continues to ignore Hamas' prisoners who are on hunger strike," Abu Marzouk said.

Hamas called the Palestinian Authority to "immediately release all political prisoners" including six Hamas members detained in Jericho for nearly two years.