President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority told leaders of his political party on Tuesday that the government he formed a year ago after signing a reconciliation pact with the rival Hamas movement would resign within 24 hours, according to a senior Palestinian official and local news reports. The so-called consensus government, headed by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, has never been seen as effective, and it has been unable to assert itself in the Gaza Strip or meaningfully lead a reconstruction effort there after last summer’s devastating war between Hamas and Israel. It was unclear whether Mr Hamdallah, a former university president who was first tipped two years ago to lead a previous government, would be replaced or reappointed with a reshuffled cabinet. The move is an acknowledgment that the April 2014 pact between the West Bank-based Palestine Liberation Organisation and Hamas, the Islamist faction that dominates Gaza, has - like several before it - failed to bridge years of bitter schism.