No word on Hamas's main source of power: its weapons

Hamas tells its Gaza agencies to prepare to cede power as part of truce plan

Terror group spokesman says it will ‘hand over all authorities’ in Gaza to an ‘independent Palestinian technocratic committee,’ whose makeup has not yet been announced

Hamas on Sunday said it had instructed its government agencies to prepare to hand over their powers to the independent committee of Palestinian technocrats that is supposed to administer Gaza under US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan.

The statement came as Trump is expected to announce this week the makeup of the Board of Peace that is supposed to oversee the Palestinian committee.

“Based on US President Trump’s statement of his intention to form a Board of Peace for the Gaza Strip, the Hamas movement has issued directives to all government entities and agencies to prepare to hand over all authorities to this independent Palestinian technocratic committee,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a video statement.

“This decision is clear and final, and there are also instructions to facilitate the success of this Palestinian [technocratic committee’s] work, in line with the higher national interest and in keeping with the plan to end the war on the Gaza Strip,” said Qassem.

For much of the Gaza war, Hamas said it was prepared to give up its political control of the Strip. However, it has resisted calls to disarm, and its weapons are the main tool used to dominate the enclave.

Egypt has been leading efforts to establish the Palestinian technocratic committee, while consulting with the US, Israel and the various Palestinian factions. A list of 12 names of politically unaffiliated individuals was submitted to the Shin Bet security service, which went on to approve eight of them, an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel last week.

While the West Bank-based PA has pushed for one of its ministers to join or even head the committee, Israel vetoed this idea outright. Instead, one member of the technocratic committee is slated to be a former PA official, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Fatah officials, including PA Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh and intelligence chief Majed Faraj, met with mediators in Egypt last week to discuss the formation of the technocratic committee, and Hamas officials are expected to hold further talks on the matter with their Egyptian counterparts in Cairo this week.

After his meetings in Egypt, Sheikh met in Ramallah on Friday with former UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov, who is expected to serve as a top official for Trump’s Board of Peace. The meeting came a day after Mladenov held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and met with President Isaac Herzog.

The first phase of the October ceasefire halted the fighting and saw the release of the remaining living hostages held by Hamas. The deal has halted intensive military operations, but Israel has regularly been opening fire on what it says are suspects violating the ceasefire. The death toll since the truce began is over 440, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Hamas still has not returned the remains of police officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, who was killed in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that triggered the war, or agreed to disarm, both of which Israel has insisted must occur before transitioning to the truce’s next stage.

Trump told Netanyahu during their meeting last week at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that he wants to quickly advance to the second phase of the ceasefire deal, a US official has told The Times of Israel, adding that the premier raised concerns but said Israel would cooperate with the effort.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.