USA announces technocrat government for Gaza Strip

The USA According to their own statements, they are starting to set up an interim administration for the Gaza Strip die second phase of its coastal region plan. In addition to an administration made up of Palestinian technocrats, complete demilitarization and reconstruction are planned, explained the US President’s special envoy Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff. The USA is also calling on Hamas to immediately hand over the last hostage killed.

Otherwise there would be serious consequences, wrote Witkoff on Wednesday on the platform X. At the head of the 14-member committee of technocrats Ali Shaath Stand, the former deputy minister of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, the news agency learned Reuters by Palestinian insiders.

No Hamas representation planned

The establishment of the internationally supervised body is part of a 20-point plan brokered by Trump for the Gaza Strip, which has been largely devastated after the war between Israel and the radical Islamic group Hamas. The conflicting parties agreed to the plan in October. However, there are no plans for Hamas to be represented in the interim administration.

Instead, alongside Shaath, the committee will include representatives from the private sector and non-governmental organizations. Both Hamas and the Palestinian president’s rival Fatah group Mahmud Abbas Egyptian and Palestinian circles said they had approved the membership list. There was initially no comment from the Israeli side.

Trump is pushing for the second phase of his Gaza-Plan to get on track. However, the first phase, which envisages a ceasefire and the release of hostages, is still not going smoothly. Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violations. Hundreds of people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip since the agreement came into force. Hamas continues to refuse to lay down its weapons. The remains of at least one Israeli hostage have still not been handed over. And the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt has been delayed.