Hamas on Sunday said it had instructed its government agencies to prepare to hand over their powers to an independent committee of Palestinian technocrats that is supposed to administer Gaza under US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan,
The Times of Israel reports.
The statement came as Trump is expected to announce this week the makeup of the Board of Peace that is to oversee the Palestinian committee.
“Based on US President Trump’s statement of his intention to form a Board of Peace for the Gaza Strip, the Hamas movement has issued directives to all government entities and agencies to prepare to hand over all authorities to this independent Palestinian technocratic committee,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a video statement.
“This decision is clear and final, and there are also instructions to facilitate the success of this Palestinian [technocratic committee’s] work, in line with the higher national interest and in keeping with the plan to end the war on the Gaza Strip,” said Qassem.
For much of the Gaza war, Hamas said it was prepared to give up its political control of the Strip. However, it has resisted calls to disarm, and its weapons are the main tool used to dominate the enclave.
Egypt has been leading efforts to establish the Palestinian technocratic committee, while consulting with the US, Israel and the various Palestinian factions. A list of 12 names of politically unaffiliated individuals was submitted to the Shin Bet security service, which went on to approve eight of them, an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel last week.
While the West Bank-based PA has pushed for one of its ministers to join or even head the committee, Israel vetoed this idea outright. Instead, one member of the technocratic committee is slated to be a former PA official, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
