Palestinian president announces government will dissolve

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures as he speaks during a meeting for the Central Council of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, March 4, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced the national unity government he formed with Hamas last year will dissolve.

Abbas did not make any mention of a timetable for resignation in his announcement Tuesday night. But it is expected within days.

Abbas said the move was "because Hamas didn't let it work in Gaza."

The government was formed last year before the war between the Islamic militant group Hamas and Israel. It came after years of feuding between the rival Palestinian groups.

But the government did not function well and the sides have argued over how to carry out reconstruction of the war-battered Gaza Strip and other issues.

Hamas violently seized Gaza from Abbas forces in 2007, leaving him governing just parts of the West Bank.