By Our Foreign Desk
GAZA CITY — A newly designated administrative body has taken over from Hamas and has officially announced its readiness to govern the Gaza Strip, though its leadership is conditioning its success on a monumental and historically elusive requirement: an absolute monopoly on the use of armed force.
Ali Shaath, the newly appointed head of the National Committee for the Management of Gaza, announced on Monday that his organization is prepared to take over the daunting task of administering the enclave.
The move follows the sudden resignation of the head of the Government Emergency Committee—which had been acting as a provisional authority—and the formal dissolution of that emergency body.
But in a statement signaling a sharp departure from the factionalism that has defined Gaza’s governance for decades, Mr. Shaath laid out a strict set of political and security prerequisites for his committee to function effectively.
“We affirm that the National Committee is fully prepared to assume its national responsibilities, once the necessary capabilities and resources for its operation are available,” Mr. Shaath said in a prepared statement marking the transfer of administrative power.
Crucially, he added that the essential requirements for the success of the committee’s work include “the existence of a single authority and a single law with a clear reference, and a single armed force subject to this authority.”
For international observers and residents of Gaza alike, Mr. Shaath’s demand for a “single armed force” cuts to the very heart of the Palestinian political crisis.
It is a direct challenge to the reality that has governed Gaza since 2007, when Hamas violently ousted the Palestinian Authority and established its own government while maintaining an independent, heavily armed military wing alongside other militant factions like Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The principle of “one law, one gun” has long been a prerequisite demanded by the international community—and a sticking point for the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah—for any unified Palestinian government.
By explicitly stating that all armed forces must be subject to a single administrative authority, Mr. Shaath is essentially demanding an end to the era of autonomous militant factions operating outside the purview of the state apparatus.
“This is an attempt to ensure the provision of a suitable political, administrative, and security environment that enables the committee to carry out its duties effectively,” Mr. Shaath noted, emphasizing that such an environment is required to achieve “the interests of our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip as a whole.”
The transfer of power to the National Committee for the Management of Gaza comes at a precarious moment for the territory. Following the devastating and protracted war between Israel and Hamas that began in late 2023, Gaza was left with a shattered infrastructure and a profound governance vacuum.
For much of the past two years, daily life in the enclave has been managed by a patchwork of local clans, international aid organizations, and the now-dissolved Government Emergency Committee, which struggled to maintain order and distribute aid amid severe resource shortages and overlapping jurisdictions.
The dissolution of the Emergency Committee underscores the immense friction of trying to rebuild and govern a territory without a universally recognized mandate or the financial backing of the international donor community.
Western and Gulf Arab donors have repeatedly stated they will not fund the multi-billion-dollar reconstruction of Gaza unless there is a credible, technocratic government in place that can guarantee funds and materials will not be siphoned off by militant groups.
Mr. Shaath’s public commitment to a single legal and armed authority appears to be a calculated signal to these international donors.
By aligning the National Committee’s foundational principles with the demands of the international community, the new leadership is making a bid for the financial “capabilities and resources” Mr. Shaath explicitly noted are necessary for his committee to operate.
However, the reality on the ground presents severe obstacles. While the military capabilities of Hamas and other factions have been deeply degraded, small, localized cells remain. Whether these remnants will willingly disarm or integrate into a unified security force under the National Committee remains a heavily debated question among regional analysts.
Furthermore, it is not yet clear how the Israeli government, which maintains strict security oversight of Gaza’s borders, will treat the new National Committee.
As Gaza continues its long, painful road toward recovery, Mr. Shaath’s declaration marks a vital administrative shift.
But translating the promise of a single, unified government from a press statement into the reality of Gaza’s streets will test the limits of Palestinian diplomacy, international support, and the enduring shadows of factional divides.
