Hundreds of Palestinian citizens gathered at the Beit Hanoun (Erez) checkpoint in the northern Gaza Strip, to welcome the long-awaited visit of the head of the Palestinian National Government, Rami Hamdallah, marking the end of the 11-year-old Palestinian division and the start of the national reconciliation.

The Palestinian national government is scheduled to arrive in the Gaza Strip on Monday morning; about two weeks after the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas dissolved its administrative committee in the coastal enclave.

The United Nations envoy to the Middle East peace process, Nikolay Mladenov, arrived in Gaza on Monday morning heading a UN delegation to follow up on the Palestinian government while assuming its duties in Gaza.

According to the Government Information Office in Gaza, the Prime Minister of Palestine, Rami Hamdallah, will hold a press conference immediately after his arrival at the Beit Hanoun Crossing.

The government delegation is expected to include more than 300 people, including the Prime Minister and his ministers, heads of government agencies and security forces.

The Egyptian security delegation, which arrived in Gaza yesterday, and leaders of the Hamas Movement, will receive the delegation of the Palestinian government outside the crossing, and the security forces in Gaza are expected to hold an official reception for Hamdallah and his ministers.

After the press conference, the government delegation is due to visit Al-Shijaeya neighborhood, east of Gaza City, to inspect a house that was destroyed during the recent war on Gaza and was rebuilt near Al-Qubba clinic.

Following the completion of the inspection of the house, the Central Committee of Fatah member Ahmed Hillis will host the government delegation and a number of representatives of the Palestinian factions in his home for lunch before the delegation heads to Almashtal Hotel to rest. Following this, the ministers will meet with the staff of their ministries.

On Tuesday, the Palestinian government will hold its weekly meeting at the headquarters of the Council of Ministers in Gaza City (the former house of President Mahmoud Abbas). The Palestinian Prime Minister is expected to leave Gaza to Ramallah later, with some ministers remaining in the Gaza Strip.

The Minister of Public Work and Housing Mufid al-Hasayneh said that the visit of the delegation of the Palestinian government to Gaza “is not just about protocol,” stressing that Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah “will announce a lot during the visit.”

It is expected that the Palestinian factions will meet next week in Cairo, which sponsored the reconciliation agreement, to agree on the practical steps to apply what was agreed upon, and to solve issues that impeded the implementation of previous agreements such as the issues of the employees and security forces.

Dramatic developments in the Palestinian reconciliation took place after Hamas announced the dissolution of the administrative committee in Gaza on 17 September during talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo.