In a speech to the Palestine Central Council, Abbas denounced Hamas in the harshest terms, accusing the Islamic movement of staging “a coup” against him in the Gaza Strip and of provoking Israel and Egypt to seal Gaza’s borders.

Hamas is “committing capital crimes, bloody crimes against our people every day, every minute, every hour,” Abbas said. “There will be no dialogue until they return Gaza to what it was before.”

“Even the devil cannot match their lies,” he added.