RAMALLAH - Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad resigned on Monday in preparation to form a new government.

Related readings:  Palestinian Authority calls elections before Sept  Palestinians likely to go to polls in July  Palestinian surfers find freedom amid waves of Gaza  UN chief urges to revive Mideast peace talks

Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President Mahmoud Abbas has accepted Fayyad's resignation and tasked him to form a new government, sources from Abbas' office said.

The sources said that the new government would focus on implementing a series of recent decisions aimed at ending internal split and promoting national unity.

"The government will pave the way for holding local, parliamentary and presidential elections," according to the sources.

The Palestinian leadership announced that they would hold national elections by September, though the Islamic Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip rejected new polls under the current circumstances.

Hamas won the parliamentary elections in 2006, but routed pro- Abbas forces and ousted his Fatah party in Gaza a year later after the two movements failed to stick to a Saudi-brokered power- sharing pact.

Hamas refused to recognize Fayyad's government which was formed in the West Bank after the PNA lost Gaza.

The sources said that Abbas had asked Fayyad to expand the new government and try to reflect as many political verities as possible.

Ahmad Majdalani, a former minister in the Palestinian government, said the reshuffle will target at least half of the ministries. The sources said most of the key portfolios would be under the reshuffle, including the foreign, health, economy, work, justice, finance and information ministries.