RAMALLAH, West Bank — A field hospital being established in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip continues  to stir animosity between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas officials.

Abbas pledged twice within three days to work against the project, which Hamas says is a US-backed field hospital and the Palestinian Authority (PA) insists is a US military intelligence facility with ties to Israel. On Dec. 6, he said during the PLO Executive Committee meeting in Ramallah that the PA will not allow the United States to establish the hospital, nor will it indulge Israel’s plan to establish an industrial island off Gaza's coast.

On Dec. 9, Abbas reiterated his position in a speech at the Anti-Corruption Commission conference in Ramallah.

“We rejected the 'deal of the century,'" he said, referring to the US plan for peace between Palestinians and Israelis. "We put up with pressure and the cutting off of funds and aid. Imagine, they want to establish a hospital in Gaza to provide aid to Gazans while Jerusalem [Palestinian] hospitals are [not given] aid. They want to separate Gaza from the West Bank to accomplish the deal of the century."