Hamas said today it met in Cairo with the rival Palestinian movement Fatah to discuss the war in Gaza and efforts to build a national consensus.

“A meeting was organized with the brothers of the Fatah movement, at the invitation of Egypt, to discuss various national issues mainly about the war in Gaza,” senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said in a video message.

Hamas, which is backed by Iran, and Fatah, which is led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, have been rival factions for decades and clashed in 2007.

Since then, the Palestinian leadership has been divided between the Palestinian Authority, under Fatah that exercises limited power in the occupied West Bank, and the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip.

The two movements discussed “the formation of a body responsible for monitoring the affairs of Gaza and its needs in various fields,” pending the formation of a government of national consensus, Hamdan said, calling the meeting “positive and sincere.”

Hamas had spoken last month of a similar meeting, also in Cairo.

In July, he announced the signing in Beijing of a “national unity” agreement with other Palestinian organizations, including Fatah.

The Islamist movement will continue “meetings and contacts with our Fatah brothers and all Palestinian factions,” the Hamas official said.