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Mahmoud Abbas has called Hamas "sons of dogs" in a fiery speech in which he demanded the group release the hostages it is still holding, disarm, and hand over control of Gaza in order to end the war with Israel.
The president of the Palestinian Authority told a meeting in the occupied West Bank that Hamas had given Israel "excuses" to continue its attacks on Gaza, and told it to "release the hostages and be done with it".
The remarks were the strongest against the group that the president has delivered since the war began 18 months ago.
A Hamas official condemned what he called Abbas's "derogatory language" towards "a significant proportion… of his own people".
