A spokesman of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said on Saturday that the Hamas-led Palestinian cabinet had been stripped of power.

Sami Abu Zuhri echoed Palestinian Prime Minister and senior Hamas leader Ismail Haneya's statements in Gaza City on Friday that the Hamas government was stripped of power and authority.

Abu Zuhri defended his remarks, listing an example that the power to oversee the investment fund had been recently taken from the newly-installed government.

He also criticized some Palestinians for worrying that the Hamas-led cabinet, which took office on March 29, might collapse. Abu Zuhri also urged the state-run Palestinian TV to "stop incitement against the Hamas-led government and focus efforts on exposing the Israeli aggressions against the Palestinians."

Defeating President Mahmoud Abbas' long dominant Fatah movement in the January legislative elections, Hamas has took control of both the parliament and the government.

Tensions have been recently raised between Abbas and Hamas as Abbas appointed close allies in charge of security. Hamas has formally committed itself to Israel's destruction, refusing to renounce violence, recognize the Jewish state's right to exist and accept interim peace deals.