Ramallah, October 7 (RHC)-- Senior leader of the resistance movement Hamas Ismail Haniyeh says the Palestinian national unity government is set to hold its first cabinet meeting in Gaza on Thursday. Haniyeh made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Press TV on Monday, three days before an international conference to raise aid for the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

Earlier in the day, Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa said the cabinet meeting meant to "see the situation on the ground and to send a message to the donors' conference that the government is ready to start reconstruction soon."

In April, Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement to end years of rivalry and form a unity government. The new cabinet of the Palestinian unity government was sworn in on June 2nd. The cabinet led by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah has 17 ministers, including five from the Hamas movement.

Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the besieged Gaza Strip and are demanding that Israel withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories. Tel Aviv, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of Jerusalem.