Hamas has inherited a worse economic situation in the Palestinian Authority than it had imagined, with no hidden stores of funding to avert a looming fiscal crisis, according to Jihad al-Wazir, acting finance minister in the PA’s previous Fatah government.

Mr Wazir remained at his desk in Ramallah until the weekend, briefing Omar Abdel-Razeq, his Hamas successor, and signing cheques on the PA’s dwindling current account.