Hamas says arrangements complete to hand over Gaza administration to national committee

Hamas said on Monday that it has completed arrangements to transfer governing authority in Gaza to the National Committee for the Administration of the Palestinian Strip.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said all procedures had been finalised by governmental and administrative bodies in Gaza to hand over “all powers and resources” to an independent national committee tasked with managing the Strip.

“As soon as the committee enters the Gaza Strip, the handover process will begin in a transparent and comprehensive manner across all sectors,” Qassem said.

Hamas has controlled Gaza since 2007, after the collapse of a national unity government and escalating disputes with the Fatah movement led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, following Hamas’s victory in the January 2006 legislative elections.

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The “National Committee for the Administration of Gaza” is described as a non-political body responsible for overseeing day-to-day civil service affairs. It comprises 11 Palestinian figures as well as its chairman, Ali Shaath.

The committee began work in mid-January from Cairo, but has yet to start operating inside Gaza, where around 2.4 million Palestinians are living in increasingly dire conditions.

According to the report, the committee is one of four structures proposed to manage a transitional phase in Gaza, alongside a “Peace Council”, a “Gaza Executive Council” and an “International Stabilisation Force”, under a Gaza plan attributed to US President Donald Trump.

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