Hamas says it is ready to hand over administration of the enclave to a US-backed committee of Palestinian technocrats headed by Ali Shaath, a former Palestinian Authority official in the occupied West Bank
Hamas is planning to tighten its grip over Gaza as Israel and the US eye the region’s post-war governance. The group has started placing its loyalists in key government posts, collecting taxes and paying salaries to increase its legitimacy.
Sources have told Reuters that Hamas is continuing influence over key Gaza power structures has fuelled widespread scepticism about the prospects of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, which requires the militant group to give up its weapons in exchange for an Israeli military withdrawal from the territory.
“Hamas is advancing steps on the ground meant to preserve its influence and grip in the Gaza Strip ‘from the bottom up’ by means of integrating its supporters in government offices, security apparatuses and local authorities,” the Israeli military said in a document presented to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in late January.
Hamas says it is ready to hand over administration of the enclave to a US-backed committee of Palestinian technocrats headed by Ali Shaath, a former Palestinian Authority official in the occupied West Bank. But it says Israel has not yet allowed committee members to enter Gaza to assume their responsibilities.
Hamas appoints new governors
The terrorist group has named five new governors to be appointed at the district levels. All of these individuals have links to Hamas’ armed al-Qassam Brigades. It has also o replaced senior officials in Gaza’s economy and interior ministries, which manage taxation and security.
“Shaath may have the key to the car, and he may even be allowed to drive, but it is a Hamas car,” one of the sources told Reuters.
“Looking ahead, without Hamas disarmament and under the auspices of the technocrat committee, Hamas will succeed, in our view, to preserve influence and control in the Gaza Strip,” it said in its assessment, which was first reported by Israel’s Channel 13 news. This is the most complete account of the document’s contents.
White House has other plans
Meanwhile, the
White House has proposed that Palestinian gangs should run the police force in the Gaza Strip after the war, despite pushback from senior commanders and Western allies, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The report has come at a time when US President Donald Trump is preparing to hold the first meeting of the Board of Peace, a controversial organisation with the mandate to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction and post-war transition into a Palestinian-governed territory.
The Telegraph has reported that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who has emerged as his principal diplomat without holding any government post, has emerged as the champion of the proposal. He has been working closely with Aryeh Lightstone, the CEO of the pro-Israel Abraham Accords Institute.
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