The United States announced it would support the new Palestinian unity government, saying it would work with the cabinet sworn in on Monday, but warned it would be watching closely.

The United States announced it would support the new Palestinian unity government, saying it would work with the cabinet sworn in on Monday, but warned it would be watching closely.

"At this point, it appears that President (Mahmud) Abbas has formed an interim technocratic government that does not include ministers affiliated with Hamas," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

"Moving forward we will be judging this government by its actions. Based on what we know now, we intend to work with this government," Psaki said.

The long-awaited Palestinian unity government took the oath before Abbas on Monday after a landmark reconciliation deal with Hamas.

Psaki confirmed that millions of dollars in US aid to the Palestinian Authority would continue.


But asked if the Zionist entity would agree to return to the negotiating table after it suspended the talks in April, she said that would be up to the Israeli government to decide.

"It is ultimately up to the parties ... to make the difficult decisions about coming to the negotiating table," Psaki said. "So we will see, we are not in a position to make a prediction at this point."