Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says Hamas has to shape up and change its conduct or the Palestinian Unity government is history.  Upset over the costly Gaza war, Abbas is warning the Islamist organization that the Palestinian Authority has to function as one.

“We cannot continue working with Hamas this way,” Abbas said in Cairo, where he is to meet with Arab League envoys about Hamas and attempts to renew peace talks with Israel.

Hamas and the ruling Fatah party of Abbas and the Palestinian political class in the West Bank ended years of bitter disagreements with an April power-sharing pact.  But Abbas says that Hamas has remained in control of Gaza with what amounts to a “shadow government”, and took it upon itself to wage the 50-day war with Israel.  Hamas and other militants fired hundreds of rockets from Gaza into Israeli territory, doing miniscule damage – Israeli airstrikes unleashed massive devastation on Gaza, killing more than 2,100 people – most of them civilians – left nearly a million people homeless, and destroyed infrastructure.

“The Palestinian leadership is doing everything it can to ease the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza, and is working urgently to improve their situation,” Abbas told reporters, adding that the damage caused to Gaza in this year’s war is “hundreds of times” worse than the wars in 2009 and 2012.  A cease-fire is now in effect, while more negotiations are planned to deal with issues like Palestinian demands for a Gaza airport and seaport.