Hamas has announced its intention to hand over governing authority in Gaza after two decades in power, inviting a US-backed interim administration to take over the running of the Palestinian territory. The announcement, made on Monday, raises questions about its impact on the fragile ceasefire and the humanitarian crisis in the besieged coastal strip.
Transition offer without disarmament
While expressing readiness to hand over security as part of a transition, the Hamas statement made no promise to disarm unilaterally, a key demand from Israel and the US. The interim administration, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), has been blocked from entering Gaza by Israel since its creation in January under a US-brokered ceasefire.
Mohammed al-Farra, the head of the Hamas administration, announced his resignation and the handover of power to NCAG. He stated that Hamas would end its political direction of Gaza governance immediately but that civil servants and public workers would remain in their jobs pending NCAG's arrival. “After I have ensured that all necessary preparations have been completed for the handover of the governmental system in the Gaza Strip, I hereby tender my resignation from my positions as chairman of the governmental work follow-up committee in the Gaza Strip and chairman of the governmental emergency committee,” al-Farra wrote.
Symbolic gambit or genuine step?
Analysts view the Hamas announcement as largely symbolic, aimed at reviving a stalled peace process that has blocked reconstruction and humanitarian relief for Gaza’s surviving 2.1 million population. The move is also seen as a counter to Israeli-led proposals to limit relief and governance to a tiny proportion of Gaza’s population in purpose-built villages in areas under Israeli army control.
The Trump administration has backed a plan variously referred to as a “humanitarian city”, “alternative safe communities”, or “New Rafah”, which former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has called a “concentration camp”.
A Hamas spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, told Agence France-Presse: “Hamas has taken a new step in that it will no longer be in charge of the Gaza Strip, in order to remove any pretexts for the occupation, which continues its aggression and war of extermination.”
NCAG blocked from entering Gaza
The prospect of a political transition remains remote. The NCAG is overseen by the Board of Peace established by Donald Trump as part of a ceasefire plan his administration brokered in October. However, its 13 current members, mostly prominent Palestinian professionals, have been prevented from entering Gaza by Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government and have been stuck in Cairo since January.
NCAG chair Ali Shaath wrote on social media that the committee was “fully prepared to assume its national responsibilities as soon as the necessary resources and capabilities are available”.
In a report to the UN Security Council in May, Trump-appointed high representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov blamed Hamas for the impasse. Hamas has made clear it will not give up its arms while Israel directly controls more than 60% of Gaza, commits wholesale ceasefire violations, and backs Palestinian paramilitary groups inside the territory. Mladenov was widely criticised for lack of impartiality in failing to hold Israel to account.
Board of Peace noncommittal
The Board of Peace’s response to the Hamas declaration was noncommittal, saying only it had “taken note” of the announcement. “Ultimately, our assessment will be guided by actions, not promises, to meet the critical needs of the people of Gaza,” the board said. “The core principle remains one authority, one law and one weapon. This means the consolidation of all weapons under the control of the NCAG.”
Max Rodenbeck, the Israel-Palestine project director at the International Crisis Group, said: “Given its very limited leverage and the absurdly unending misery in Gaza, and given the Board of Peace’s insistence on conditioning any progress on Hamas’s disarmament, while ignoring Israel’s daily airstrikes and efforts to capture more land, the group is keen to find some way to break the logjam.” He added that by signaling willingness to give up political power, Hamas puts the onus back on the Board of Peace to show flexibility.
Struggle over Gaza's future
The Palestinian Authority and its Arab and European backers are struggling to shape US policy and persuade the administration to stick to the Trump peace plan envisaging reconstruction and new governance in the whole of Gaza, rather than just in areas under Israeli army control. Muhammad Shehada, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said: “Hamas knows that if NCAG just moves into New Rafah, it would be delegitimised as the ruler of bantustans or a concentration camp. Hamas is trying to recapture the initiative and circumvent the roadblock created by the New Rafah plan.”
Shehada added that even if Hamas disarms unilaterally, Netanyahu will not allow reconstruction anywhere in Gaza before elections. The Israeli prime minister is struggling to keep his far-right coalition together before Israel is due to vote by late October, and diplomats expect little progress on Gaza’s future at least until then.
