Hamas dissolves administrative body in Gaza Strip

The Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Monday it was dissolving its civilian governing body in Gaza after almost two decades, transferring its responsibilities to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, or NCAG.

The head of the government's emergency committee, Mohammed al-Farra, has officially submitted his resignation, Ismail al-Thawabta, head of Hamas' government media office, said in an interview with AFP.

The development comes amid continuous Israeli strikes in the besieged enclave and southern Lebanon despite a US-brokered ceasefire.

Headed by Palestinian technocrat Ali Shaath, the NCAG is a transitional, technocratic, and apolitical Palestinian committee established this January under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803(2025) and US President Donald Trump's Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict.

Hamas said the dissolution aims to "alleviate the suffering of citizens resulting from the ongoing war … the delay in reconstruction, the continued siege, the closure of crossings, and the failure of the Israeli army to withdraw", as well as to eliminate pretexts for Israeli interference, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Palestinian technocratic committee said it was "fully prepared" to assume its responsibilities over the enclave "as soon as the necessary resources and capabilities are available".

Palestinian factions welcomed the dissolution, calling it a sign of commitment to advancing Palestinian reconciliation.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar dismissed the move by Hamas as a "trick" in a post on X.

He said Hamas' apparent willingness to make room for a technocratic government is designed to prevent its own disarmament and accused Hamas of seeking "to replicate the Hezbollah model in Gaza", referencing the Lebanese militant group.

Saar said a technocratic administration would be responsible for garbage collection and other municipal services, while Hamas would remain the dominant military force.

'Step forward'

Belal Alakhras, a research fellow at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, told China Daily that the decision to dissolve Gaza's emergency governing committee "is viewed as a step forward to move out of an impasse" that persisted since the ceasefire was signed last October.

He said that since then, Israel has continued to deal with Gaza in isolation, which only intensified once regional and international attention turned to the US-Israeli war on Iran and its fallout.

Alakhras noted that Israel maintained near-daily strikes that have killed more than a thousand Palestinians since the ceasefire, and expanded its military control to well over half the territory, occasionally using the presence of Hamas as a pretext for its refusal to move to the next phase of the agreement.

He said the dissolution of the civilian governing body has both local and international implications as Hamas is engaging with other local actors and international mediators and guarantors of the ceasefire to take responsibility for alleviating the suffering of the people in Gaza and ensuring the implementation of the agreement.

"The Israeli response by foreign minister (Saar) and other officials who dismissed the move is so telling as it reflects a tendency to continue enforcing the current impasse and isolation," said Alakhras.

"Prolonging the situation can make it even more complicated and possibly propel the Palestinian side to act differently and confront the ongoing hard situation. If the past three years indicate anything, it is that dealing with consequences is not enough, and it can be too risky," he added.

Contact the writers at jan@chinadailyapac.com