Hamas formally announced Monday the final dissolution of its government in Gaza amid preparations to hand power to a technical committee backed by the United Nations as part of a Trump-brokered ceasefire deal.
The hardline Islamist group, which has fought Israel in a war for survival - especially since its brutal Oct.7 2023 terror attacks on southern Israel - has not indicated whether it will fully disarm, however. There's as yet no indication it will comply with handing over security to an international force. A fragile truce has remained in force, but there has been sporadic flare-ups in fighting over the last months, which has also at times seen renewed Israeli aerial assaults.
For this reason, the development has been met with mixed reactions, with Israeli officials asserting this is a deceptive PR stunt with no real significance.
"The alleged resignation of the Hamas government, where all of the Hamas members stay in their positions, is a spin that has no significance," an Israeli official told the Times of Israel.
The response came on the heels of Ismail al-Thawabta, general director of the Hamas-run Government Media Office, having announced that "only technical and professional staff" would remain in their positions to run the Gaza Strip's daily administrative affairs.
"All employees working in service provision are 'state employees' and are fully prepared to work under the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza," he said at the press event held in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
Additionally, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem touted that it marks "a positive step forward on the path to implement the ceasefire deal."
At the start of this year, back in January, special envoy Steve Witkoff said the second phase of the ceasefire plan would move the Palestinian enclave into a period that will see the demilitarization of Hamas and the establishment of a technocratic governance model.
This phase, now being implemented, is expected to also mark the start of reconstruction for the war-torn territory.
The Board of Peace, which is led by President Trump himself, issued a fresh statement linking any legitimate handover of power with a handover of weapons. "The core principle remains one authority, one law and one weapon," the board said on X. "This means the consolidation of all weapons under the control of the NCAG as provided for in the Comprehensive Gaza Peace Plan and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803," it continues.
"A genuine transfer of authority must enable the NCAG to exercise its mandate independently, including taking the administrative and governance decisions entrusted to it," the statement says, which strongly suggests the Board of Peace itself is also skeptical of the Hamas announcement.
As for the committee which is to assume responsibility in the interim, the Associated Press describes that "The committee of technocrats, which is based in Cairo, is chaired by Ali Shaath, a Gaza-born engineer and former official with the Palestinian Authority. It has a mandate to restore essential services and oversee civilian affairs under the supervision of the U.N. and Board of Peace." At this point Hamas militants probably worry they will be massacred if they give up their arms. For this reason not all armed members are likely to agree even if they are ordered to lay down their weapons by commanders.
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