Hamas on Sunday accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement of planning "chaos" following reports that Fatah will send 1,000 officials to visit the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

"We don't want a delegation to come to Gaza. We just need to sit down at the table of dialogue to agree on reconciliation, but Fatah has been evading this," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman.

"We will not allow chaos to come back," Abu Zuhri added.

Earlier, Ziad Abu Ein, a Fatah official, told Xinhua that his movement will send 1,000 officials from Fatah and other Palestinian factions to Gaza in a bid to restart reconciliation with Hamas.

On Friday, Nabil Shaath, a member of Fatah central committee, ended a three-day visit to Gaza during which he talked with Hamas leaders about allaying tensions between the two sides to enable Egypt to resume its mediation.

The talks between Hamas leaders and Shaath, a member of Fatah central committee, were the first since Egypt halted its mediation efforts in October.

In October 2009, Hamas refused to sign an Egyptian-drafted proposal aimed to restore political unity in the Palestinian territories. Since then, Egypt has suspended its efforts to broker the reconciliation talks between the two sides.

(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2010)