Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi (2nd L, Front) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (1st L, Front) attend the opening ceremony of the World Youth Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Dec. 14, 2019. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated on Saturday the third edition of Egypt's annual World Youth Forum (WYF) at the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. (Xinhua/Li Binian)

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Wednesday that he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to strengthen economic and security ties.

The meeting, their second since Abbas hosted Gantz in August in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, was held late on Tuesday at Gantz's home in Israel, Israel's public broadcaster Kan reported, a first such trip for Abbas in more than a decade.

Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh said the two discussed the "importance of creating a political horizon," for the solution of the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The last round of peace talks collapsed in 2014.

"We discussed the implementation of economic and civilian measures, and emphasized the importance of deepening security coordination and preventing terror and violence - for the well-being of both Israelis and Palestinians," Gantz said on Twitter.

Israel's right-wing opposition party Likud condemned the latest meeting, saying that "concessions dangerous for Israel's security were only a matter of time." Likud added a dismissive reference to Bennett's governing coalition, which includes an Israeli Arab party for the first time.

"The Israeli-Palestinian government has put the Palestinians and Abbas back on the agenda... " Likud said. 

Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, also condemned the visit.

It went against the "national spirit of our Palestinian people," a Hamas statement read.

"This behavior by the leadership of the Palestinian Authority deepens the Palestinian political divide, complicates the Palestinian situation, encourages those in the region who want to normalize relations with the occupier, and weakens the Palestinians' rejection of normalization," Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said.

Relations between Israel and the Palestinians deteriorated sharply during Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu's record 12 years as prime minister, up to June. 

US-sponsored peace talks broke down in 2014 as Netanyahu oversaw an intensification of Jewish settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, regarded as illegal by much of the international community. Gantz's meeting with Abbas follows a visit to the region by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.