Ismail Haniyeh -- the head of Hamas resistance group -- said on Thursday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has always pushed for intra-Palestine reconciliation.
Speaking to reporters in Istanbul, he said: "President Erdoğan has been in favor of intra-Palestine reconciliation for a long time and urges Hamas and Fatah to unite."
Earlier this week, Erdoğan received the Hamas leader in Istanbul.
He also made a phone call to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
"We welcomed the Turkish role to help us achieve reconciliation and end the division," he said.
Hamas and Fatah have remained at odds since the former seized the Gaza Strip from the latter in mid-2007 after several days of street fighting.
In 2017, the two factions signed a reconciliation agreement in Cairo in hopes of ending years of animosity and division.
