On Sunday, Hamas announced that it will dissolve its government in the Gaza Strip once a Palestinian technocratic leadership committee takes over the coastal enclave. However, it remains unclear when this is going to happen
Hamas on Sunday said it will dissolve its existing government in
Gaza once a Palestinian technocratic leadership committee takes over the coastal enclave. The establishment of such an arrangement was part of the
US-brokered peace plan. However, the group gave no specifics on when the change will take place.
As of now, Hamas and the rival
Palestinian Authority, the Palestinians’ internationally recognised representative, have not announced the names of the technocrats, who are not supposed to be politically affiliated. It also remains unclear if they have been approved by Israel and the US. As per the deal, the “Board of Peace,” an international body led by Trump, is supposed to oversee the government and other aspects of the ceasefire that took effect on October 10 last year, including disarming Hamas and deploying an international security force.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza started with the halt in fighting and the release of hostages held in the strip in exchange for thousands of Palestinians held by Israel. The deal is still in its first phase as efforts continue to recover the remains of the final hostage left in Gaza.
Meanwhile, an Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door information, told The Associated Press that Hamas was sending a delegation to talks with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish officials about moving to the second phase.
The future of Gaza remains uncertain
In comments posted on his Telegram channel on Sunday, Hazem Kassem, a Hamas spokesperson, called for speeding up the establishment of the technocratic committee. The unnamed Egyptian official said that Hamas will meet with other Palestinian factions this week to finalise the committee’s formation. The Hamas delegation will be chaired by top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, the official said.
Meanwhile, Trump has maintained that the “
Board of Peace” will monitor the committee and handle the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, additional pullbacks of Israeli troops and Gaza’s reconstruction. However, the US has reported little progress on any of these pledges. The latest update is that the member of the board will be announced this week.
In light of recent developments, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov has been selected as the board’s director-general. Mladenov is a former Bulgarian defence and foreign minister who served as UN envoy to Iraq before being appointed as the UN Mideast peace envoy from 2015 to 2020.
Apart from this, on Sunday, Israel’s Foreign Minister
Gideon Saar met in Jerusalem with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. During the meeting, Saar said that Israel was committed to enforcing Trump’s plan, while Motegi expressed Japan’s willingness to play an active role in the ceasefire. Despite all these developments, it remains uncertain exactly when this board will take over Gaza.
With inputs from The Associated Press.
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