Hamas plans to form an extended body to rule the Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who installed a new government in the West Bank, sources said on Wednesday.

The Islamic movement and the groups supporting it in Gaza would be part of the ruling committee in addition to a number of independents, the sources added.

Abbas, whose forces lost control in Gaza during 2007 fighting, formed a caretaker government in the West Bank excluding Hamas which won the elections in 2006.

On May 19, Abbas expanded the Ramallah-based government, led by Salam Fayyad, despite Egyptian efforts to broker a national reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.

"The committee is a response to Abbas-Fayyad alliance which brought the West Bank government," the sources said.

The Damascus-based Hamas politburo held a meeting to discuss the new proposal and Hamas leaders in Gaza will hold another meeting here to make a final decision on the formation of the committee, the sources continued.

(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2009)