For first time in decades, PA bringing municipal vote to city in Gaza

In recent days, a type of notice not seen there for decades has begun appearing plastered on exterior walls in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah: posters explaining how to vote in upcoming municipal elections.

Home to some 75,000 people before the war, residents of Deir al-Balah, like all other Gazan cities, have not been able to vote for their own local representatives since Hamas took over the Strip in 2007. Throughout its decades of controlling the enclave, Hamas has appointed city council members, repeatedly preventing municipal elections from being held alongside those that have continued in Palestinian Authority areas in the West Bank.

Among those appointed to city leadership have been figures accused by Israel of engaging in terror activity, including former mayor Imad Jarou. Israel said in December 2024 that it had killed Jarou, calling him an active member of the group’s military wing. Following his killing, Hamas appointed the current mayor, Nizar Ayyash.

Now, with Hamas’s rule weakened by years of war, the PA’s Central Election Committee has launched a bid to hold open elections in the city on April 25, alongside elections set to be held in cities across the West Bank.

Hamas still exercises de facto control over the Strip, and it remains unclear to what extent the results will be honored. And though the Strip’s governance is set to transition to a technocratic committee under the US-led ceasefire plan, developments in Deir al-Balah are still largely an anomaly in an enclave where nearly all municipal officials are still being appointed by Hamas.

Nonetheless, a source close to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, told The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity that the move is a significant step toward signaling its vision of a future Palestinian polity.

“It confirms that the West Bank and Gaza are one legal and political unit,” the source said.

The PA insisted on holding elections in Gaza at this time, even if only in one area, in order to present “at least a symbolic picture” of unity between Gaza and the West Bank, he added.

Farid Taamallah, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Central Elections Commission, said in an interview with a local Palestinian radio station that elections could not be held across the entire Gaza Strip due to the widespread destruction caused by the war.

According to him, Deir al-Balah was chosen because it is one of the five largest cities in the Strip and has been less heavily damaged than cities such as Rafah and Khan Younis.

Hamas warned against thwarting vote

Though it has not held national elections since 2006, the PA, which is dominated by Hamas-rival Fatah, has held municipal elections on a number of occasions.

The first such vote took place in 2005, marking the only time local elections were held simultaneously in the West Bank and Gaza, which was still controlled by the PA at the time.

After Hamas seized power in Gaza via a bloody 2007 coup, the PA continued to push for local elections to take place in the Strip. Hamas, which had installed its own municipal leaders after taking over, publicly refused to allow them unless they were held alongside elections for the Palestinian parliament and presidency, a condition the PA rejected.

Hamas has not commented publicly on the planned election in Deir al-Balah, where preparations are now in their final stages.

The source close to President Abbas told The Times of Israel that there is no guarantee Hamas will not block the elections at the last minute, but that current indications suggest they will go ahead. “Hamas would make a major mistake if it prevents the elections — it would be entering into a major confrontation with the Palestinian public,” the source said.

Four lists have registered to compete in the elections, none of them affiliated with Hamas, Fatah or any other existing Palestinian political faction. The lists, which bear names such as Future of Deir al-Balah and Deir al-Balah Unites Us, are made up of candidates who present themselves as independent professionals.

One example is Hisham al-Dirawi, who leads the Revival of Deir al-Balah ticket. Al-Dirwai worked for decades in the municipality, most recently as head of the planning department. In his campaign video, he presented plans to rebuild the city and restore municipal services.

The top 15 vote-getters will win spots on the city council and will choose a mayor from among themselves.

To prepare residents for the vote, the Central Elections Commission has launched a public awareness campaign encouraging voter participation, alongside campaign posters from the various lists, alongside ones that explain how to vote, have appeared across the city in recent days.

News of the vote and preparations for it have not been widely covered by Gaza-based media outlets affiliated with Hamas. Instead, it has appeared in a limited way on Arab channels such as the Saudi channel Al Arabiya and the Qatari channel Al Araby.

The developments have also been covered by WAFA, the state-run news agency of the PA.

The source close to Abbas told The Times of Israel that the elections are being carried out by the Palestinian Authority, rather than The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, or NCAG, which he said has yet to begin operating in the Strip.

Under the ceasefire plan developed under US President Donald Trump, Hamas is slated to hand governance to NCAG, but members of the committee are still in Cairo and have not yet entered Gaza.

Meanwhile, Hamas continues to control approximately 47 percent of Gaza, which the Israel Defense Forces withdrew from in October, home to nearly all the Strip’s residents, including government ministries and local governance.

Adnan al-Falit, head of the Deir al-Balah Unites Us list, said current members of Deir al-Balah’s city council, appointed by Hamas, and officials from the Hamas-run Local Government Ministry had told him that they would hand over the management of the city when a new council is elected.

“Hamas still controls Gaza because the technocratic committee is not yet in the Strip,” he told The Times of Israel by phone. “If it enters, Hamas will hand over governance.”

Ballot boxes blocked

During the war, which began with Hamas’s onslaught of southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Deir al-Balah swelled with hundreds of thousands of Gazans displaced from other parts of the Strip.

However, only those with registered addresses in the city listed on their ID cards will be eligible to vote, totaling some 70,000 people, according to the Palestinian Central Elections Commission.

Members of the commission in Gaza are themselves Gazans, and the head of the Elections Commission, Jamil al-Khalidi, was born and raised in Deir al-Balah. He previously worked as an official in the Palestinian Authority’s Planning Ministry when it governed the Strip.

He also served on Deir al-Balah’s election committee in 2004 and was appointed by the PA as head of the Elections Commission in Gaza in 2008, though no elections ever materialized.

Al-Khalidi told WAFA television on April 12 that despite the preparations, election materials such as ballot boxes have yet to enter the Gaza Strip.

Israel currently controls all border crossings into Gaza and the entry of goods. The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, which is responsible for the entry of goods into Gaza, did not respond to a query from The Times of Israel regarding whether a request had been submitted to bring in such equipment, and whether it had been approved or denied.

‘Integrity, competence and independence’

While candidates are unaffiliated politically, all were likely required to comply with an amendment to the PA election law ordered by Abbas earlier this year requiring candidates in local elections to sign a pledge accepting the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole representative of the Palestinian people, as well as its “state and political programs and international resolutions.”

Though not explicit, the pledge is seemingly designed to ensure that candidates comply with PLO decisions recognizing Israel and endorsing a two-state solution, positions rejected by Hamas.

Earlier this week, Al-Falit sent a letter to Trump expressing support for his plan for Gaza’s future and urging him to continue implementing it to bring stability to the region.

In the letter, which was seen by The Times of Israel, al-Falit wrote that he “represents a group of professionals and community leaders who come from diverse backgrounds yet share a common vision: to serve our people with integrity, competence, and independence, away from partisan affiliations.”

A source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel that the letter reached the US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in recent days.

A businessman who served as the head of the Gaza Strip branch of the Islamic Bank from 2020 to 2025, al-Falit told The Times of Israel in a phone interview from Gaza that he sent the letter to Trump because he shares the president’s vision for a better future for the region.

“There are professionals in Deir al-Balah who want peace, who are far from wars, and who are striving to rebuild and develop our city,” he said, explaining why he formed his list and is seeking election to the city council.

For the PA, the election in Deir al-Balah is seen as a first step toward a process of democratizing governance for Palestinians. Al-Khalidi, the Elections Commission head, expressed hope in recent days that conditions on the ground will eventually allow for local elections to be held across the entire Gaza Strip.

The source close to President Mahmoud Abbas said there are also hopes for eventually holding general elections for the Palestinian parliament and presidency, something which has not taken place since 2006.

The PA has repeatedly planned such elections in the last two decades, but they have always been aborted, with Ramallah blaming Israeli restrictions or the ongoing rift between Fatah and Hamas, among other reasons.

Fatah and Hamas are still at loggerheads, and since the October 7 attack, there has been increased opposition to legitimizing Hamas’s participation in the Palestinian political process.

But for now, the source said, “there is very encouraging public response in Gaza” to the local elections in Deir al-Balah.

A resident of the city told Al Arabiya that the vote “is a positive step that will ease the burden on residents after the great suffering caused by the war.”

Another resident added, “This is an important step for our people,” another resident told the outlet. “We have been deeply affected by the war, and no one is taking responsibility for us.”