The Islamic Hamas movement on Wednesday slammed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for reshuffling his West Bank-based government.

Salah Al-Bardaweel, a spokesman for Hamas, said Abbas' step is "unjustifiable and it complicates the efforts to achieve a national reconciliation and harms the interests of the Palestinian people."

However, Abbas has repeatedly accused Hamas, which routed his forces and took over the Gaza Strip in 2007, of blocking the implementation of the Palestinian reconciliation deal brokered in February by Qatar.

Also on Wednesday, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa revealed that Abbas informed his prime minister-designate Salam Fayyad that the new government is temporary until the reconciliation is achieved.

The reshuffled cabinet, headed by Fayyad, will take oath before Abbas Wednesday evening.

Fayyad's previous government has been lamed by the resignation of five ministers, most of them over corruption charges or suspicions.

Abbas first tasked Fayyad with forming a government in 2007, after Hamas installed its own administration in the Gaza Strip and Abbas' rule was confined to the West Bank.