Senior Hamas official says agreement reached with PA on formation of committee to manage Gaza

Mousa Abu Marzouk says in an interview with Al Jazeera that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have come to an agreement regarding the establishment of a temporary committee that will manage the Gaza Strip on behalf of the PA.

The committee’s responsibilities will include overseeing the border crossings and the security forces in the Strip, Abu Marzouk says, adding that it will be headed by a PA minister.

Abu Marzouk doesn’t clarify whether this decision was approved by the US as well as the PA, meaning it is unclear whether there is any weight to the agreement.

In recent weeks, Hamas has refrained from publicly addressing the composition of the committee that will oversee Gaza’s civilian affairs, in line with the White House’s plan to end the war in Gaza.

According to Arabic media reports, one of the proposed candidates to head the committee is Palestinian Authority Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan. However, there are reports that Israel has rejected his candidacy.

Abu Marzouk says that Israel still refuses to allow UN forces to operate in areas currently under its control in the Strip, something he said contradicts the draft proposal the United States submitted to the UN Security Council, which centers on the deployment of an international stabilization force in Gaza.

He clarifies that disagreements remain over the operational details of the international force — such as where it would operate and what its mandate would be — and says that “a long discussion is still required on this matter.”

Avoiding a definitive answer on whether Hamas will disarm as required by President Donald Trump’s broad Gaza peace plan, Abu Marzouk says in the interview that “Hamas is the force that controls the ground [in Gaza]. If it is disarmed, there will be other weapons and other groups. Just as in Iraq, when the Iraqi army was disbanded, chaos followed — al-Qaeda and ISIS emerged.”

He adds that such a move “would not contribute to stability or to the implementation of agreements (such as the ceasefire).”

“There is no vacuum — any replacement force must be Palestinian and agreed upon by Palestinians, so there will be no rejection or internal conflict.”