Cairo hosts Fatah-Hamas talks, aiming for deal on PA control in post-war Gaza
Egypt’s foreign minister says talks aim to equip Palestinian Authority to govern Strip after war, though past attempts to end rivalry between Fatah and Hamas have failed
Egypt’s foreign minister said Monday that rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas were in Cairo for talks seeking to bring post-war Gaza under the full control of the Palestinian Authority.
Gaza has been under the authority of Hamas since it used force to take the territory in 2007 from the Fatah movement, which currently rules over parts of the West Bank under the PA. Repeated attempts at mending the rift between Fatah and Hamas have failed, wrecked by the factions’ bitter rivalry over power.
“There are indeed two delegations from the Fatah and Hamas movements in Cairo, consulting and deliberating to quickly reach a mutual understanding regarding the management of daily affairs in the Gaza Strip under the full control of the Palestinian Authority,” Badr Abdelatty told a news conference in Cairo.
He said the PA is to “be fully enabled to take on matters in a clear and complete manner after the end of the Israeli occupation.”
The issue of who will govern Gaza after the war has been widely debated.
Palestinians insist that the territory’s future should be theirs to decide, rejecting any foreign intervention.
Israel rejects any role by Hamas in Gaza after the war is ended, and has said it does not trust the rival PA of Mahmoud Abbas to run the enclave.
The talks are part of Egypt’s broader mediation efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terror group and to expand humanitarian access to the enclave.
Mediators, including Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, have so far failed to secure a truce that would end the war and facilitate a release of Israeli and foreign hostages held by terror groups in Gaza, in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners held by Israel for crimes that include terror offenses.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that the war will continue until Hamas is dismantled. The terror group has demanded an end to the war and has rejected any hostage deal that does not include an upfront commitment from Israel to end hostilities.
Hamas has been locked in a deadly conflict with Israel in the Gaza Strip since the terror group launched a massacre on southern communities on October 7, 2023, slaughtering some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages to Gaza.
Israel then launched an operation aimed at eliminating the terror group and rescuing the hostages.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 44,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
