Cheering crowds gathered in Gaza to welcome Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah as he entered the territory, which is controlled by Hamas, in a show of national unity on Monday.

The delegation of officials from Fatah, the mainstream Palestinian party, shared a stage with Hamas leaders in the most serious attempt at reconciliation since the Islamist group seized control of the territory in 2007.

“We came at the orders of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to announce to the world, from the heart of Gaza, that the Palestinian state cannot be without political and geographic unity between the West Bank and Gaza,” Mr Hamdallah said, Al Jazeera reported.

 “We know that the only way to achieve our goals is through unity, and to protect the Palestinian political system.”

As Mr Hamdallah spoke, a large photograph of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was displayed behind the delegations.

It was a reminder that despite the show of unity on the stage, Mr Abbas still will not visit Gaza and continues to view Hamas as usurpers.

Also absent from the picture were representatives of Gaza’s neighbours, Israel and Egypt. But senior Egyptian intelligence officers were nearby within Gaza, holding security talks, Meanwhile Israel, which in the past volubly denounced previous attempts at rapprochement between Hamas and Fatah, has this time remained silent.

Hamas announced last week that it would hand administrative control of the territory to a unity government led by Mr Hamdallah.

Major question-marks remain, including who will take care of security at the border crossings and what the role of Hamas’ military wing – which the Palestinian Authority has demanded disbanded – will be. There is also the question of who will pay the salaries of 40,000 Hamas civil servants.

The reconciliation is partly the result of Egyptian efforts to resort order in its Gazan backyard. This is in the hope that it will help combat Islamic State fighters in neighbouring Sinai, and for now at least, Fatah, Hamas and Israel as well, are playing along.

But one clear understanding of Monday’s events is that Hamas is unofficially committed now to a long-term ceasefire with Israel as well.

This was underlined by the seating arrangement onstage: Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ hardline Gazan leader and joint commander of its military wing, was side-by-side with Palestinian Authority security chief Majid Faraj, the man who in recent years has been in charge with security coordination with Israel in the West Bank.

A permanent reconciliation would be welcomed by thousands of ordinary Palestinian civilians, who hope it will lead to a significant improvement of living conditions in Gaza, which remains partially blockaded by Egypt and Israel.

Plans are in motion for major infrastructure projects and to allow thousands of Gazan workers into Israel, although the Israeli government has yet to approve these.

But in a hopeful sign on Monday, 20,000 lulavim (date palm leaves) grown by Gazan farmers were allowed in to Israel for sale ahead of Sukkot.