Hamas Dissolves Gaza Governing Body and Transfers Authority to Technocrats

Hamas announced the dissolution of the body that governed the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades and transferred authority to a team of technocrats under the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. The step implements civilian rule as stipulated by the US-brokered ceasefire that took effect last October.

Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Government Media Office in Gaza, said all Ministry of Interior employees will continue their work to ensure there is no security vacuum.

Mohammed al-Farra submitted his resignation as head of the government’s emergency committee, which then dissolved itself to facilitate the transition. The Gaza Health Ministry stated that 73,098 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023. At least six Palestinians were killed and more than 20 wounded in ongoing Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip, medical sources said.

Two died in a drone attack on a vehicle along al-Rashid Street in Khan Younis, two others in an attack on a tent sheltering displaced people in al-Mawasi, and a married couple in a drone strike on an apartment in Gaza City. An Israeli missile strike on a vehicle in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, southern Lebanon, killed four people, according to the National News Agency.

The victims included the principal of Youssef Shamoun Public School, her mother, a foreign domestic worker, and a Syrian citizen.

They were checking on the family home near Dar al-Muallimeen when the vehicle was hit. Rescue teams from the Lebanese Red Cross and civil defence agency transferred the bodies to hospitals in Nabatieh city. The Israeli military said it took full operational control of the village of Haddatha in southern Lebanon, describing it as part of the security zone and a major centre of Hezbollah activity.