The Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas have been engaged in a tug of war for some time now. The dispute entered a new stage April 12, when President Mahmoud Abbas promised during a speech at a conference of Palestinian ambassadors in Bahrain to pressure Hamas to end the division.

During his visit to Washington May 4, Abbas vowed to take “painful and unprecedented” measures against Hamas, and they have been escalating by the day. Most recently on June 26, nine patients, three of them children, died in the Gaza Strip after being denied travel permits for treatment abroad.

The PA says its goal is to push Hamas to agree to Abbas' conditions for reconciliation. Dissolving the administrative committee it set up in March to run Gaza will allow the national consensus government to work in the Gaza Strip and agreeing to hold presidential and legislative elections within six months. However, Hamas believes the plan is consistent with Israel's plans for Gaza.

The PA’s measures began on April 4 with the government deducting 30-50% from the salaries of its employees in the Gaza Strip, followed by suspending social assistance to 630 families and preventing hundreds of cancer patients from accessing treatment in Jerusalem or Israeli hospitals. The PA stopped covering electricity payments to Israel on April 27. On April 28, Abbas approved the early retirement law, which will force an estimated 35,000 military personnel in Gaza to retire early. Most recently in June, the government also cut the financial support for 277 former Hamas prisoners in the Gaza Strip.