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Munther al-Hayek, spokesperson for the Palestinian Fatah Movement in the Gaza Strip, said Monday that any Hamas-backed technocratic committee to run the Gaza Strip must be tied to the Palestinian Authority, warning that a committee without that reference could push Gaza toward “secession."
In a televised interview with Al Hadath, he added that if the reference authority is external, the Gaza Strip would become one region and the West Bank another, as he put it.
He also stressed that the only way forward is for Hamas’ political bureau to go to Egypt, meet with the mediators and clearly announce its rejection of forming any committee whose reference is not the Palestinian National Authority. He said contacts are ongoing with the movement at all levels, but none have received any clear responses.
He said the Palestinian position, and that of Fatah, is that any technocratic committee to manage the transitional phase in the Gaza Strip should be under the Palestinian Authority and led by a Palestinian minister.
He also stressed that the situation has entered a dangerous phase that requires a legitimate Palestinian political system, one that is internationally recognized, in order to mobilize the world for relief and reconstruction.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian source told Al Arabiya that the factions will discuss Monday in Cairo the formation of a technocratic committee.
This came after Hamas said Sunday that it had issued official instructions to all institutions and government bodies in the Gaza Strip to fully prepare to hand over the administration of the Strip to an independent Palestinian “technocratic” body.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the move “comes in response to the national understandings, and based on U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of his intention to form a (Peace Council) in the Gaza Strip.”
He added that the movement had informed all agencies of the need to facilitate the handover process and ensure the body’s success. Qassem stressed that the decision is final and clear for the movement.
He noted that the “instructions were issued in full alignment with the supreme Palestinian national interest,” stressing that the instructions were issued “in implementation of the plan that stopped the war on Gaza, which was reached in Sharm el-Sheikh.”
It is worth noting that Palestinian factions, during a meeting held in Egypt’s capital, Cairo, on Oct. 24, agreed to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a temporary Palestinian committee made up of Gaza residents, independents and experts.
In turn, the factions called for an agreed-upon strategy to revitalize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and to ensure its leading role in the next phase.
The Gaza Strip Administration Committee stands out as one of the urgent files linked to implementing the second phase of the agreement, but it has yet to materialize, even though Egypt proposed forming it early on.
The Egyptian proposal is based on establishing a committee of independent, specialized “technocratic” figures to run the Strip, a proposal that the Palestinian factions welcomed at the time.
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