Hamas moves to end Gaza administrative body as handover remains unsettled

Administrative transition faces unresolved conditions

Hamas announced on July 6, 2026, that the emergency body performing governmental functions in Gaza would be dissolved, presenting the decision as a step toward transferring civilian administration to a Palestinian technocratic committee.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said Mohammed al-Farra, head of the Government Emergency Committee, had submitted his resignation and declared the committee dissolved. The statement said the action was intended to demonstrate commitment to agreed arrangements and ease the administrative transition.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the group wanted the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, or NCAG, to enter the territory promptly. He said Hamas was ready to hand governmental responsibilities to the committee. Another account of the announcement said technical and professional personnel would remain in their posts to preserve civilian-service continuity.

The NCAG is headed by Ali Shaath and is intended to oversee Gaza’s future administration under a US-backed plan. Shaath welcomed the announcement and said the committee could assume its responsibilities once the resources and capabilities needed for the work were available. The committee had remained outside Gaza for months, reportedly because Israel objected to its entry.

The change concerns direct civilian governance rather than an announced end to Hamas’s political or military role. Hamas has governed Gaza since taking control from Fatah in 2007, after winning Palestinian legislative elections in 2006. It had repeatedly expressed willingness to leave daily administration following a US-brokered ceasefire that took effect the previous October, while the issue of disarmament remained unresolved.

Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative overseeing the US-founded Board of Peace for Gaza, described the proposed roadmap as the link between public commitments and implementation. He said agreement on outstanding provisions would allow the NCAG to take responsibility and enable weapons decommissioning, Israeli withdrawal and large-scale reconstruction to begin.

The Board of Peace said its governing principle was that Gaza should have one authority, one law and one weapon, with all arms controlled by the NCAG. Diplomatic sources quoted by The Jerusalem Post argued that Hamas’s announcement was not by itself sufficient for the committee to enter Gaza. They alleged that Hamas had retreated from earlier understandings, raised additional demands and resisted conditions involving weapons kept in tunnels. Those assertions were not presented as independently established findings.

Israeli officials also questioned the move. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar argued that Hamas sought to leave municipal functions to technocrats while retaining military power. A senior Israeli official characterized the announcement as an attempt to avoid disarmament. Hamas, by contrast, described its withdrawal from administration as removing a justification for continued Israeli action and facilitating the committee’s work.

Israel has rejected continued Hamas government in Gaza and, at that stage, also opposed a direct takeover by the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. The competing positions left the timing and terms of an actual handover unresolved despite the announced dissolution.