The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) official news agency, WAFA, on Sunday night amended its report which said that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas had condemned Hamas’ attacks on Israel.
The original report said that, during a conversation with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Abbas said the actions and policies of Hamas “do not represent Palestinian people”.
Abbas also called the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," WAFA said.
Hours later, however, the report was re-written and now merely says that Abbas “stressed that policies of the Palestine Liberation Organization represent the Palestinian people as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and not the policies of any other organization.”
Before the edit, the comments marked the second time that Abbas has condemned Hamas, though his first condemnation, which came in a phone call with US President Joe Biden earlier on Sunday, was weaker than the second one.
According to Hebrew-language reports on the conversation between Abbas and Biden, the PA chairman condemned the Hamas massacre, though he stopped short of issuing an absolute condemnation of Hamas' act of genocide.
The PA chairman has been criticized for only commenting on the right of the Palestinian Arabs to "resist" Israel in the wake of the massacre instead of condemning his political rivals for their crimes against humanity.