Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, together with a senior Palestinian Authority delegation that accompanied him, left the Gaza Strip following meetings with the leadership of the Islamist Hamas organization. Despite signs of an approaching Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal that would see Hamas relinquish its administrative powers in the Gaza Strip to President Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority, reports indicate that unity is far from reality. Egypt’s Intelligence Chief Khaled Fawzy, who visited the Gaza Strip with the aim of overseeing the talks between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority’s delegation, informed President Mahmoud Abbas that Hamas has refused to consider dismantling its military wing – a precondition of the Palestinian President. While President Abbas declared that he would not allow Hamas to continue to hold illegal weapons within the Gaza Strip, Hamas emphasized to the Egyptian intelligence chief that it would not disarm its military wing until the Palestinian Authority would meet certain preliminary requisites, among others, to reach a final political agreement with Israel.