Boxes containing fish are displayed for sale at a market in Gaza City, Aug. 15, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa.

The Egypt-brokered Israel-Hamas truce deal currently being finalized represents “a betrayal of the Palestinian people and its cause,” a top Fatah official asserted on Wednesday.

In an interview with a Palestinian radio station, Azzam al-Ahmad said that any such agreement should be signed by the Palestinian Authority (PA), not Hamas.

Fatah, the dominant faction in the West Bank-based PA, was violently ousted from Gaza by Hamas in 2007.

Also on Wednesday, Israel reopened its main commercial crossing with Hamas-ruled Gaza and expanded the coastal enclave’s fishing zone in the Mediterranean Sea.

A meeting of the Israeli security cabinet was convened on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Gaza, where an outburst of Hamas violence last week nearly provoked an all-out war.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We are in the midst of a campaign against terror in Gaza. It entails an exchange of blows; it will not end in one strike.”

He added, “Our demand is clear — a complete ceasefire. We will not suffice with less than this.”

“As of now, we have destroyed hundreds of Hamas military targets, and in each round the IDF exacts an additional heavy price,” Netanyahu stated. “I will not reveal here our operational plans, they are ready. Our objective is to restore the quiet to residents of the south and the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip; this goal will be achieved in full.”

On Monday, it was reported that Netanyahu flew to Cairo in May for a secret meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi about the situation in Gaza.