Islamic Hamas movement hailed on Thursday the decision of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to put off the municipal elections scheduled for next month.

"It's a positive step to delay the elections," Gaza-based Hamas official Ismail Radwan told Xinhua.

Radwan added that "any elections should be held under national consensus" mainly after achieving national unity between the Palestinian factions.

Earlier on Thursday, the PNA decided to postpone the municipal elections that were scheduled to take place in July, but no new date for the polls has been set yet.

The Palestinian government of Salam Fayyad met in the West Bank city of Ramallah Thursday "and decided to delay the elections" which were scheduled for July 17, said Ghassan Al-Khatib, the government spokesman.

Al-Khatib told Xinhua that the government will issue a statement later to explain the reason behind the postponement, but sources from the government said that President Mahmoud Abbas wants the municipal polls to be delayed "to give a new room for efforts to achieve reconciliation" between his Fatah party and Islamic Hamas movement.

Hamas, which routed pro-Abbas forces and seized Gaza in June 2007, banned the local polls in Gaza. The elections would have taken place only in the West Bank where Fatah holds sway.

Hamas wants to settle its power-struggle with Abbas before accepting new elections, including presidential and parliamentary polls.