Tens of thousands of Palestinians were rallying in Gaza City and Ramallah to call for end to the division in their national movement

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya on Tuesday invited Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas for "immediate" talks to mend the bitter divide between their two movements and achieve reconciliation.

Haniya's remarks were made after an emergency meeting of his government held as tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied in central Gaza City and across the West Bank to urge reconciliation between Hamas and the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority which rules from Ramallah.
  
The biggest gathering was in Gaza City, where officials from the Hamas-run interior ministry said vast crowds had packed into the city's Square of the Unknown Soldier. "There are tens of thousands of people already there, and there may be more on the way," interior ministry spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein told AFP.
  
In Ramallah, around 3,000 people had gathered in Manara Square, with hundreds more pouring in all the time, an AFP correspondent said.
  
The rallies, called by the March 15 protest movement and planned through Facebook by young activists demanding an end to the division between the rival Fatah and Hamas factions, are taking place simultaneously in the two cities. The demonstrations, organized by youth activists who say they have no political affiliation, are expected to receive widespread support across the territories, with similar protests planned outside Palestinian delegations overseas.