Efforts are underway for a meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and chief of the Hamas politburo Khaled Meshaal, sources said Monday.

The meeting between Abbas, who heads the Palestinian Fatah party, and Meshaal will take place Wednesday in Cairo of Egypt, said the sources, who are close to both Hamas and Fatah.

In 2007, Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces, ousted Fatah and took over the Gaza Strip.

The meeting comes against a backdrop of an Israeli military offensive conducted against Gaza, which started on Wednesday and has already killed more than 90 Palestinians so far.

The sources said that Abbas and Meshaal will try to come up with a unified Palestinian position in dealing with the Israeli airstrikes.

During the meeting, Abbas and Meshaal are also expected to set a date for the first meeting of a temporary committee to activate Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).