Abbas calls for reconciliation to face ‘risks’

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday called for achieving inter-Palestinian reconciliation to face "risks" facing the Palestinian issue.

The call comes ahead of an expected announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump to relocate the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and officially recognize the city as Israel's capital.

"In order to ensure the success of reconciliation, we have instructed the government to go to the Gaza Strip and work to find solutions to the daily suffering of our people there," Abbas said in a statement carried by the official Wafa news agency.

He appealed to the Palestinian people and factions to "focus on the upcoming challenges facing the national project by taking advantage of the opportunity to achieve national unity."

He said the Palestinian unity is the "real response to all attempts aimed at violating our rights guaranteed by international law and norms".

In October, rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah signed a landmark reconciliation agreement in Cairo aimed at healing their decade-long rift after Hamas captured Gaza from Fatah in 2007 after days of street fighting.