The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas announced Monday that it had dissolved its governing bodies in the Gaza Strip, after almost 20 years in power, thus paving the way for a technocratic committee responsible for administering the territory.
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“The chairman of the government’s emergency committee, Mohammed al-Farra, has officially submitted his resignation,” Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas government’s media office, told AFP, adding that he had “decided to dissolve the committee in order to facilitate the administrative and governmental transition to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG).”
The NCAG was created by the “Peace Council”, established by US President Donald Trump, during the negotiations which led to the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October 2025.
The Hamas initiative marks an important political turning point for the Islamist movement, which took power in the Gaza Strip in 2007 following clashes with Fatah, the formation of the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, based in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
A few months after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by the bloody attack on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, the Islamist movement made it known that it was ready to withdraw from power in the Gaza Strip in favor of another Palestinian leadership.
Since then, numerous scenarios have been mentioned, but on the ground, the situation is slipping. One of the main sticking points remains the disarmament of Hamas, with the latter affirming that it will only concede it as part of a Palestinian political initiative, which Israel rejects.
“Hamas is taking a new step by renouncing to administer the Gaza Strip in order to deprive the occupation of any pretext to continue its aggression and its war of extermination,” Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem told AFP.
“We hope that the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza can quickly enter the Gaza Strip, and Hamas reaffirms its willingness to transfer government responsibilities to it in order to ensure the success of its mission,” he added.
A Hamas official told AFP earlier that the movement had already informed other Palestinian factions of its decision during a recent meeting in Cairo.
“The different factions welcomed Hamas’ decision, calling it a serious step allowing the National Committee to assume its role in governance,” he said.
