Hamas, Fatah met for Palestinian reconciliation talks in Beijing — China

China has said that two rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah met in Beijing recently for "in-depth and candid talks on promoting intra-Palestinian reconciliation".

"Representatives of the Palestine National Liberation Movement and the Islamic Resistance Movement recently came to Beijing," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Tuesday, referring to the groups by their formal names.

"The two sides fully expressed their political will to achieve reconciliation through dialogue and consultation, discussed many specific issues and made positive progress," he added, without specifying when the sides had met.

Hamas took over the coastal territory from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, after being blocked from exercising real power despite winning a legitimate parliamentary election the previous year.

Fatah maintains partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank through the Palestinian Authority.

China has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and supportive of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Beijing has been calling for an immediate ceasefire since the start of the current Israel war on Gaza.