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The main Palestinian factions have said they have agreed that an independent committee of technocrats would take over the running of Gaza after Hamas said it had received “clear guarantees” from mediators that “the war has effectively ended”.
A joint statement published on the Hamas website said the groups had agreed in a meeting in Cairo to hand “over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a temporary Palestinian committee composed of independent ‘technocrats’, which will manage the affairs of life and basic services in cooperation with Arab brothers and international institutions”.
The statement also called for a meeting to “agree on a national strategy and to revitalise the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people”. Hamas is not part of the PLO, which is dominated by its longtime rival Fatah.
It comes as the wife of the Palestinians’ most popular leader, Marwan Barghouti, appealed on Friday to Donald Trump to intervene for her husband’s release from an Israeli jail, after the US President said he would “make a decision” on the matter.
In a letter addressed to Trump, Fadwa Barghouti, whose husband is serving multiple life sentences since 2002 for deadly attacks on Israelis but is seen by many Palestinians as a potential leader who could unite their national movement, urged Trump to push for his discharge.
“Mr President, a genuine partner awaits you – one who can help fulfil the dream we share of just and lasting peace in the region,” her appeal said. “For the sake of freedom for the Palestinian people and peace for all future generations, help release Marwan Barghouti.”
Trump had on Thursday told Time magazine he was weighing whether to support the release of the imprisoned Fatah leader. “I am literally being confronted with that question about 15 minutes before you called,” he said. “That was my question of the day. So I’ll be making a decision.”
Barghouti, 66, has been in prison for more than 20 years after being convicted of planning attacks that led to five civilians being killed, and sentenced to five life sentences plus 40 years. The trial was criticised as deeply flawed by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Palestinians have long sought his release, reportedly including him in recent hostage negotiations, but Israel has refused.
Arab Barghouti, the leader’s son, said his father was assaulted and beaten unconscious by eight guards on 14 September as he was being transferred between Ganot and Megiddo prisons.
The alleged beating followed a prison visit to the Palestinian leader by the Israeli national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, in August. Ben Gvir, a member of a far-right party who has past convictions from Israeli courts for incitement to racism and support for a terrorist organisation, taunted Barghouti in a video clip published at the time.
According to Barghouti’s son, Ben Gvir also showed the 66-year-old prisoner a picture of an electric chair and told him he deserved to be executed.
Fadwa Barghouti’s letter was sent to Trump while the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is in Israel as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to strengthen the ceasefire agreement.
Rubio voiced hope Friday of soon putting together an international force to police the ceasefire in Gaza and said Israel, which opposes including Turkey, could veto participants.
“There’s [sic] a lot of countries that have offered to do it. Obviously as you put together this force, it will have to be people that Israel is comfortable with,” he said.
Turkey, a Nato member and one of the region’s strongest militaries, was the first Muslim-majority country to recognise Israel.
But under president Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkey has welcomed Hamas leaders and been a vociferous critic of Israel, which Erdogan accuses of committing genocide in Gaza, an allegation Israel denies.
Rubio has become the fourth member of Donald Trump’s inner circle to visit Israel since the president’s trip to the Knesset last week — a move widely seen as a signal to the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that Washington is keeping a close eye on developments and want to safeguard the fragile Gaza’s truce.
Hamas said Friday in a statement it had received “clear guarantees” from mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey that “the war has effectively ended”.
It called for greater pressure on Israel to allow in humanitarian aid.
The World Health Organization said Thursday there had been little improvement in the amount of aid going into Gaza - and no observable reduction in hunger.
“The situation still remains catastrophic because what’s entering is not enough,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
