Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed on Monday deep solidarity with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and the Egyptian people against terrorism.

The Palestinian state-run news agency "Wafa" reported that Abbas spoke to Morsi on the phone and told him "we press on your hands to uproot terrorism from Egypt and keep Egypt safe and secure."

On Sunday, a group of unknown radical militants attacked an Egyptian army post in the Egyptian desert of Sinai and killed at least 16 soldiers and officers after seizing two of their armored vehicles.

The report said that Abbas expressed to Morsi the Palestinian people and his deep grief to the Egyptian people and their leadership as well as to the families of the victims.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad sent a letter of condolences to the Egyptian Premier Hisham Qandil as well as to the Egyptian Military Council and the Egyptian leadership.

In Gaza, the deposed government of Islamic Hamas movement called on Monday to form a permanent joint Palestinian-Egyptian security committee to serve the security interests of the two peoples.

The government, which held a meeting in Gaza chaired by Hamas Premier Ismail Haneya said in a press statement that the government is so much concerned about Egypt's security "because security of Palestine is the security of Egypt."