In the Occupied Territories, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced he’ll order early parliamentary elections in response to the Hamas seizure of power last month in the Gaza Strip. Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri dismissed the call as illegitimate.

Sami Abu Zuhri: “The president’s call for early elections is unacceptable, unconstitutional and illegal. It will remain only as ink on paper, and neither Abbas nor all the papers and all the international powers who support him will be able to hold any election as long as Hamas rejects it.”