The vote in Deir al-Balah is part of Palestinian Authority municipal elections that Palestinians have cast as a display of national unity against a US plan for Gaza that they believe intends to entrench their separation from the occupied West Bank.
It will be Gaza’s first vote of any kind since 2006, when Hamas won the PA’s legislative elections and later seized control of Gaza following a brief civil war with PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, dominant in the West Bank. –Agencies
