TEL AVIV, August 19. /TASS/. The Palestinian National Authority has issued a request to Israel for a visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Gaza Strip in the near future, the Walla portal reported, citing its sources.

Speaking at an extraordinary session of the Turkish parliament on August 15, Abbas announced his pans to visit the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. He has not been in Gaza since 2007 when the Hamas radical movement seized power there, although he planned to do so several times, for instance, in 2011. Hamas doesn’t recognize the Palestinian Authority’s jurisdiction over the enclave whereas Abbas has repeatedly said that Gaza is Palestine’s inseparable part.

According to Walla, on August 18 the Palestinian side issued a request to Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi asking to coordinate the Palestinian leader’s visit to the Gaza Strip in the near future. The decision will be made by Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu, the portal added.

Israel, according to Walla, believes that Abbas has requested a visit to Gaza in a hope the request would be turned down and he would have grounds to accuse the Israeli side that it is barring him from visiting the Palestinian enclave. If the Palestinian leader is allowed to visit Gaza and does this, it will be his political victory over Hamas and will signal the Palestinian Authority’s potential return to the enclave after the Israeli operation, it noted.