Hamas has criticized the appointment of Mohammed Mustafa as the new Palestinian prime minister, calling it a “unilateral” designation by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas said the decision was taken without consulting it despite recently taking part in a meeting in Moscow also attended by Abbas’s Fatah movement to end long-time divisions between the two Palestinian factions, according to Al Jazeera. 

“We express our rejection of continuing this approach that has inflicted and continues to inflict harm on our people and our national cause,” Hamas said in a statement.

“Making individual decisions and engaging in superficial and empty steps such as forming a new government without national consensus only reinforces a policy of unilateralism and deepens division.”

It added that at a time of war with Israel, Palestinians needed a unified leadership preparing for free democratic elections involving all components of their society.