Hamas on Monday announced that the head of the Emergency Committee had submitted his resignation, as the first step to dissolve the “committee for monitoring government activity,” the body that effectively serves as Hamas’s government in the Gaza Strip.
According to Hamas, the move is intended to allow the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), also known as the Technocrats Committee, headed by Ali Shaath, to enter the Strip and have administrative powers transferred to it.
Hamas also stated that “technical and professional staff” would remain in place, in order to maintain continuity in service to civilians in Gaza.
At the same time, sources in Hamas and Palestinian factions said a new round of talks is expected to take place in Cairo within two days, with the aim of “narrowing the gaps” around the second stage of the fragile ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
According to the report, Israel violated the multi-stage agreement announced last October, killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, and eliminated senior Hamas officials. At the same time, the mediators, led by Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, are working to stabilize the agreement and advance the implementation of its next stages in order to achieve calm in the Strip.
It was further reported that Cairo will host meetings within about 48 hours with the participation of the Palestinian factions, including Hamas.
The sources added that there is information indicating that Gaza’s representative on the Board of Peace, Nikolay Mladenov, arrived in Egypt to take part in the discussions alongside US officials operating within the framework of the Board of Peace and the international stabilization forces.
However, his participation could not be verified through a source on his behalf, and those close to him previously clarified that his participation depends on progress in the negotiations over the agreement’s clauses, following Hamas’s and the factions’ responses to the latest update proposals.