Meanwhile in Israel and the Occupied Territories, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced he won’t seek re-election early next year. Speaking in Ramallah, Abbas said he had grown frustrated by Israel’s refusal to halt settlement building and said his retirement is “not up for debate.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: “I have told our brethren in the PLO’s executive committee and Fatah central committee that I have no intent of running in the upcoming presidential election, and this decision is not up for debate or bargaining at all. I hope they understand this position of mine, taking note that there are other steps that I will take.”

Abbas has recently faced widespread Palestinian criticism for negotiating with Israel, despite ongoing settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, and agreeing to delay a vote on the findings of the UN’s inquiry into the Gaza assault. In Gaza, Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri said Abbas had relied too heavily on US and Israeli backing.

Sami Abu Zuhri: “Mahmoud Abbas’s speech expresses the crisis he is in after being abandoned by his friends, the Americans and the Israelis, who just used him like a tool. He’s trying to hide this by attacking Hamas and holding it responsible for his crisis.”