Hamas Says It Will Dissolve Gaza Government Under U.S.-Backed Transition Plan

Israeli fire killed three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Sunday despite a three-month-old ceasefire, as Hamas said it is prepared to dismantle the government it has run in the territory for nearly two decades and hand power to a new Palestinian technocratic body.

Hamas signals willingness to step back from formal rule

Hamas said it will dissolve its “existing government in Gaza” once a nonpartisan Palestinian committee of experts takes over administration of the enclave under a United States–brokered political plan. The movement did not say when the new body would be formed or when a handover might occur.

The pledge, delivered in a statement carried by news agencies from Cairo, marks the first time since Hamas seized Gaza in 2007 that it has publicly agreed to step back from formal governance. But the announcement comes with significant conditions and leaves unresolved a central question in U.S. and Israeli planning for Gaza’s future: what happens to Hamas’s weapons and armed fighters.

“We have taken a clear decision to dismantle the institutions running the Gaza Strip,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in remarks reported by regional media. He said the movement is ready “to facilitate all arrangements required for the technocratic committee to assume its duties,” urging that the body be formed “as soon as possible.”

The U.N.-endorsed framework and the Board of Peace

Under a framework endorsed by the U.N. Security Council in November, day-to-day governance in Gaza would shift to a temporary Palestinian technocratic leadership committee operating under an international structure called the Board of Peace.

The board—mandated by Security Council Resolution 2803—is envisioned as a transitional administration for Gaza and is chaired by U.S. President Donald Trump. Former U.N. Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov has been appointed as its director-general.

The plan is part of Trump’s 20-point proposal to end the 2023–25 Gaza war. Phase one, which took effect with a ceasefire on Oct. 10, 2025, included an end to large-scale hostilities, a staged release of Israeli captives held in Gaza, the freeing of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, and a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces inside the territory.

Ceasefire holds, but violence continues

Despite the truce, Gaza health officials said Israeli fire killed three Palestinians on Sunday in two separate incidents: one man in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City and two men in Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. The incidents occurred in areas near the front lines separating Israeli troops from Palestinian-held territory. Israel did not immediately comment on the specific shootings.

Since the ceasefire began, more than 400 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes and shootings, according to Gaza authorities. Israel says three of its soldiers have died in sporadic clashes over the same period.

The truce followed a conflict that began after Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and prompted a massive Israeli military campaign in Gaza. Palestinian officials estimate more than 70,000 people in Gaza have been killed since then, with much of the enclave reduced to rubble and more than 2 million residents displaced.

The “yellow line” and a militarized frontier

Under current arrangements, Israeli forces have pulled back to an internal demarcation known as the “yellow line,” running roughly north-south through Gaza. Israeli troops continue to control more than half of the territory, including significant agricultural areas, and maintain authority over crossings and airspace.

Residents and humanitarian organizations say the yellow line has become a militarized frontier where civilians risk being shot if they approach.

What the technocratic committee would do

Hamas’s announcement is part of a broader diplomatic push to move the Gaza conflict into a second phase: international administration and reconstruction under U.N. auspices.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Washington is pressing to complete phase one and quickly establish new governing and security structures.

“We have a sense of urgency about bringing phase one to its full completion, which is the establishment of the Board of Peace and the Palestinian technocratic authority, and then the stabilization force comes closely thereafter,” Rubio told reporters last month.

The technocratic committee, agreed in principle by Palestinian factions at talks in Cairo in October, is expected to be composed of politically unaffiliated Palestinian professionals from Gaza who would focus on public services such as electricity, water, health care and education. Its members have not been publicly named.

Egyptian officials say delegations from Hamas and other groups are due in Cairo this week to finalize the list and the body’s mandate in coordination with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators.

The unresolved core dispute: arms and security

For now, Hamas says it is dismantling its own administrative bodies in preparation. It has not announced any changes to its military wing or its internal security apparatus.

That distinction lies at the heart of disputes over Gaza’s future. Under the U.S. plan and Resolution 2803, an International Stabilization Force is to deploy in Gaza to help enforce security, oversee demilitarization and train a restructured Palestinian police.

Several countries, including Bangladesh, have indicated they are considering contributing troops, but the composition and rules of engagement of the force have not been finalized.

Israel and the United States say Hamas’s disarmament is a nonnegotiable condition for any full Israeli withdrawal and long-term political arrangement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has welcomed Trump’s peace plan and the Board of Peace concept as a way to end Hamas’s control of Gaza, but he has repeatedly stressed that demilitarization is essential. Israeli officials say they expect to maintain a “security envelope” east of the yellow line until they are satisfied Hamas can no longer fire rockets or rebuild significant military capabilities.

Hamas and other Palestinian factions reject that approach. While agreeing to the Oct. 10 ceasefire and prisoner exchanges, Hamas has formally rejected Resolution 2803, describing it as creating “an international trusteeship mechanism over the Gaza Strip.” In a joint statement with other groups, it said an international force would amount to “imposed guardianship or administration” that restricts the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and aims to strip “the resistance” of its arms.

Hamas leaders say any discussion of disarmament should be part of a comprehensive political settlement that includes a full end to Israeli occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state. They argue that giving up weapons without such guarantees would leave Palestinians vulnerable.

Palestinian Authority and U.N. concerns

The Palestinian Authority, which lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007, has welcomed the U.N. resolution and expressed readiness to work with the Board of Peace, viewing the arrangement as a step toward reuniting Gaza with the West Bank under a single Palestinian leadership and toward broader international recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Senior PA official Hussein al-Sheikh met with Mladenov in the West Bank last week to discuss the future governance of Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.

U.N. human rights experts have also raised concerns about the new architecture. Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, said Resolution 2803 risks running “counter to the Palestinian right to self-determination” and could legitimize “ongoing mass violence” if it does not clearly prioritize international humanitarian law and accountability.

Supporters of the Board of Peace say the model resembles earlier U.N.-backed transitional administrations in places such as East Timor and Kosovo, designed to rebuild shattered societies and prepare for local self-rule. Critics argue that Gaza differs fundamentally because large portions of its territory remain under the control of an occupying army and because key decisions will be heavily shaped by a single outside power, the United States.

A transition still without a timeline

For civilians inside Gaza, those debates remain largely abstract. After years of war, siege and internal political division, many say their priorities are practical: safety, shelter and a functioning administration that can restore basic services and oversee reconstruction.

Whether a committee of technocrats operating under an international board can deliver those needs—while Hamas retains armed cadres, Israel holds its forces behind a new internal line and foreign troops prepare to deploy—is the question that will now test the ceasefire and Trump’s plan.

Hamas’s promise to step aside from governing marks a significant shift from the movement’s long insistence on controlling Gaza’s ministries and security forces. But with no date set for the technocratic body to take office, with Israeli gunfire still echoing along the yellow line, and with the core dispute over weapons unresolved, Gaza’s future remains uncertain—suspended between a war that has not fully ended and a political transition that has not yet begun.