Palestinian security forces stand guard outside the Palestinian cabinet headquarters in Gaza City, ahead of the arrival of the Palestinian PM on October 2, 2017.

:: Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah arrived in Gaza Monday for his first visit in two years, as rival factions seek to overcome a decade of crippling divisions, an AFP reporter said.

Hamdallah, along with dozens of ministers and officials from the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, began crossing the border into the coastal enclave around noon, ahead of meetings with leaders of rival faction Hamas.

The West Bank-based Palestinian prime minister crossed into the Gaza Strip on Monday in a major drive towards reconciliation between Hamas and the mainstream Fatah party, a decade after the Islamist group seized the territory in a civil war.

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered outside the Hamas-controlled checkpoint, down the road from Israel’s Erez border crossing through which Rami al-Hamdallah and his delegation passed, to welcome the prime minister.

Major reconciliation move with Hamas

The Palestinian prime minister crossed into the Gaza Strip in a major move towards reconciliation between Hamas and the mainstream Fatah party, a decade after the Islamist group seized the territory in a civil war.

Hamas announced last week that it was handing over administrative control of the Gaza Strip to a unity government headed by Rami al-Hamdallah, but the movement’s armed wing remains the dominant power in the enclave of two million people.

Hamas’s reversal was the most significant step towards elusive Palestinian unity since the government was formed in 2014. It failed to function in Gaza because of disputes between Hamas and Fatah over its responsibilities.

Analysts said narrowing internal divisions could help Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas counter Israel’s argument that it has no negotiating partner for peace.

A Hamas police honor guard and hundreds of Palestinians, many of them waving Palestinian flags, welcomed Hamdallah outside the Hamas-controlled checkpoint, down the road from Israel’s Erez border crossing through which the prime minister and his delegation passed.

“It is a day of Eid, a national holiday,” said Abdel-Majid Ali, 46. “We hope this time reconciliation is for real.”

Hamas, considered a terrorist group by Israel and the West, made its dramatic reversal towards unity last month, disbanding its Gaza shadow government, after Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates imposed an economic boycott on its main donor, Qatar, over alleged support of terrorism.

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah

Palestinians gather at the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip as they wait to welcome the arrival of Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah and his government on October 2, 2017.