A freshly-formed committee of Palestinian technocrats tasked with governing the Gaza Strip met for the first time in Cairo on Thursday, moving forward a fraying peace process and providing hope for a postwar Gaza.
The committee, comprising apolitical Palestinians with experience ranging from the humanitarian sector to commerce, is headed by Ali Shaath. The veteran civil servant from Gaza served as deputy minister of planning and international cooperation in the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA).
Establishment of the committee, which is to take over governing Gaza from the militant group Hamas, is seen as a critical step in advancing the moribund Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, facilitating both an Israeli withdrawal and the beginning of reconstruction.
Why We Wrote This
Formation of the apolitical Palestinian committee, which met for the first time in Cairo, follows months of low-level conflict and unfulfilled pledges that have threatened the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. In Gaza, it was greeted with skepticism and hope.
The team of technocrats was agreed upon by Palestinian factions, including Hamas and its rival Fatah, the dominant PA party, over a series of talks with mediator Egypt in Cairo that concluded on Wednesday. The members were vetted by both the United States and Israel, says an American diplomatic source who requested anonymity.
While many team members served as ministers or officials in the PA, most are seen as apolitical, not belonging to any faction, and either are from Gaza or have family roots there.
Palestinian factions including Hamas and Islamic Jihad pledged in a statement late Wednesday “to support the mediators’ efforts in forming the Palestinian National Transitional Committee to administer the Gaza Strip, while providing the appropriate environment” for the governing body to conduct its work.
The 15-member committee was outlined in the 20-point plan devised by the Trump administration and its Arab partners and backed by a U.N. Security Council resolution.
It is to report to veteran Bulgarian diplomat and former U.N. Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov, and to a “board of peace” made up of world leaders that is to be formed by the Trump administration.
The committee’s formation follows months of low-level conflict and unfulfilled pledges that have threatened the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
Since the ceasefire went into place this past October, Israel has reportedly killed more than 450 Palestinians in airstrikes and shootings that it described as retaliation for violations by Hamas and others. Many aid items are still being blocked by Israel from entering Gaza and are stockpiled in Egypt, and the entry of food and shelters remains a steady trickle, multiple international aid agency officials tell the Monitor.
As of Thursday, Israel has not withdrawn from 53% of the Strip, pushing the vast majority of Palestinian residents into tiny cantons, and it has yet to reopen the Rafah crossing on Gaza’s border with Egypt to allow full-scale entry of aid, food, and shelters.
Hamas has yet to hand over the remains of the last deceased Israeli hostage, Ran Gvili, an Israeli police officer, with the group saying it is trying to locate his remains.
In Gaza, skepticism but some hope
People in Gaza responded to the announcement of the committee with a mixture of hope and skepticism over whether it would represent Palestinian interests and whether it can tackle the large tasks ahead.
“I am happy they are from Gaza, but they have not lived the war like us,” says Baha al-Aqad, a Khan Yunis resident, from a tent in Al-Mawasi, a designated “safe zone” along Gaza’s southern coast. “They were living a pampered life” outside the Strip.
“I know there are huge challenges ahead of them, especially after we lost everything and we ask them to rebuild Gaza,” says Mr. Aqad, whose home was destroyed during the fighting. “If the new government has funds and political will, they will succeed in moving forward.”
Palestinian political observers and activists expressed caution, saying the governing body will focus solely on humanitarian affairs in Gaza and is neither a transition government nor a sovereign Palestinian body. It will not address Palestinian sovereignty, independence, or breaking the 18-year Israeli siege of the enclave, they say.
“The problem lies not in the committee’s competence, but in its political position and authority. It does not derive its legitimacy from society,” says Gaza political analyst Tayseer Mhaisen, who described the committee as “controversial.”
“Therefore, it is an administration without sovereignty, without a popular mandate, and without a declared political horizon,” he adds.
“We need a single government and we need to feel a sense of security,” says Mohannad Abu Rook, a father of five living in a displacement camp in Al-Mawasi.
“The first file that the government should address is safety and security. We need a government that beats the thieves and all the gangs that were produced during the war.”
U.S. and Arab officials privately expressed hope that the committee, once it begins its work in Gaza, would lead to a disarmament of Hamas and push Israel to fulfill its obligations under the plan.
Under a plan being pushed by the U.S. and its Arab allies, Hamas would hand over its heavy arms – missiles, rocket launchers, and rocket-propelled grenades – which the movement has expressed willingness to do as part of a wider amnesty.
However, Hamas has insisted on retaining its light arms such as handguns and AK-47 rifles. Washington and its Arab allies have proposed a firearm buyback program, hoping that with the decimated economy in Gaza, Hamas members would be encouraged to sell their arms to feed their families, according to Arab official sources with knowledge of the plan.
U.S. and Hamas signals
On Wednesday, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff declared the beginning of the second phase of the Trump peace plan for Gaza, saying it was “moving from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance, and reconstruction.”
“The goal here is to create the alternative to Hamas that wants that peace, figure out how to empower them,” Mr. Witkoff added, in a statement posted to social media.
Hamas politburo member Bassem Naim said on Thursday that the movement was ready to hand over administration of the Strip to the committee and “facilitate its work.”
“The ball is now in the court of the mediators, the American guarantor, and the international community to empower the committee,” Mr. Naim said in a statement to Arabic media that was forwarded directly to the Monitor.
Residents in Gaza were indifferent about Hamas handing over power.
“I am happy Hamas is stepping back,” says Mr. Aqad, the displaced Khan Yunis resident. “What has Hamas given me in the past?”
