Hamas made a political move by dissolving its governing body in Gaza this week, but experts say the decision does not resolve the main issue of the stalled ceasefire process: the Islamist movement's weapons.
What Hamas is dissolving
Hamas announced on Monday that it was dissolving the 15-member committee that has administered civil affairs in the Gaza Strip since 2007, when it seized power in the territory following elections and clashes with rival Palestinian movement Fatah. The body oversaw Gaza's ministries and public services, which were devastated by two years of war with Israel.
Hamas says it wants to transfer these responsibilities to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a body made up of Palestinian technocrats and meant to manage the territory during the transition period. On paper, this means that Hamas agrees to no longer be in charge of Gaza's day-to-day governance. A Hamas official told AFP that ministry officials were already coordinating with the NCAG to prepare for the transfer of their powers. The NCAG's chairman Ali Shaath, who like the rest of the committee has been stuck in Egypt for months and unable to enter the territory, says he is ready to assume his duties.
Why this announcement
“It's coming during full stagnation and zero progress vis-a-vis advancing the Trump plan,” said Muhammad Shehada, a visiting fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), pointing to daily violations of the ceasefire agreement by Israel.
“From Hamas's perspective, this serves several purposes: it shows they are moving the (ceasefire) process forward and highlights what they describe as Israel's failure to fulfill its commitments,” a diplomatic source told AFP. Hamas regularly says that Israeli authorities do not allow sufficient aid into Gaza, as provided for under US President Donald Trump's ceasefire plan. Israel denies the accusations.
“The aim is to deprive Israel of its arguments,” said Iyad Al-Qarra, a Gaza-based academic specializing in political communication, who believes that Hamas's administration is used by Israel as a “pretext” to continue the war.
“It is also a message to the mediators, as well as to the people of Gaza,” said Jamal Al-Fadi, a professor at Gaza's Al-Azhar University, who noted that if the NCAG does not soon take over the administration of Gaza, the move could appear to be “nothing more than a tactical maneuver.”
For Shehada, Hamas is “still the dominant force in Gaza, but they're basically in a corner.” The movement's members “don't have the resources or (the) open supply chains like Hezbollah does in Lebanon with Iran, so they cannot provide for their civil servants or for the Gazan population and so that's why they're very invested into that sort of relinquishing of power,” he said.
What might come next
Hamas's civil administration is only one component of its power in Gaza, where it continues to maintain its fighters and weapons arsenal. In Israel, both media outlets and government officials described the announcement as a “ruse.” Israel believes the war can only truly end once Hamas has surrendered its weapons and Gaza has been completely demilitarised. But Hamas says it won't give up its principal source of leverage until a Palestinian governing authority has been established and the start of an Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza.
Since the ceasefire came into effect last October, Israeli forces have further extended their control over more than 60 percent of the tiny territory. Trump's phased peace plan for Gaza, which was endorsed by the United Nations, envisions the possibility of a full withdrawal of Israeli troops only in the very long term.
“I think this is simply a symbolic gesture by Hamas to show that it is prepared to give up governing Gaza, but the issue is not the dissolution of its governing committee — it is whether it agrees to disarm,” said Gaza-based political scientist Mkhaimar Abusada.
