Hamas dissolves Gaza government in largely symbolic move
July 6 (UPI) --Hamas representatives announced Monday that they have dissolved their government in Gaza, a mostly symbolic statement that included no mention of disarmament.
The Hamas government has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. The government expressed "full readiness" Monday to turn authority over to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, CNN reported.
Ismail al-Thwabta of Hamas' Government Media Office called on "all concerned and relevant parties" to encourage Israel to allow the committee members to enter Gaza and take up their duties and responsibilities "in order to strengthen the steadfastness of our noble Palestinian people and heal their wounds," he said in the announcement at the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Hospital in Gaza City.
The committee (described as a "transitional, technocratic and apolitical Palestinian" group on its website) is supposed to lead Gaza under a U.S.-led cease-fire plan.
However, that cease-fire has largely stalled. Despite its call for a complete stop to fighting in Gaza, Israel has still carried out strikes almost daily, killing more than 1,000 people in the enclave since the agreement, the Palestinian Ministry for Health said.
Further, the Hamas statement Monday did not mention disarmament, one of Israel's main requirements for a peace deal. Hamas and its forces still control the portion of Gaza not occupied by the Israeli military, CNN said.
Ali Shaath, Palestinian leader of the NCAG, said in a statement Monday that the group is "fully prepared to assume its national responsibilities as soon as the necessary resources and capabilities are available," NBC News reported.
Shaath said there needs to be a "single law with a clear mandate, and a single armed force under the authority of this single entity."
Under the agreement signed last fall by Israel and Hamas, a "Board of Peace" backed by U.S. President Donald Trump will oversee the NCAG. That board said Monday that it has "taken note" of the announcement but that its "assessment will be guided by actions, not promises, to meet the critical needs of the people of Gaza."
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the announcement marks "a new step" and that that step was taken "in order to remove any pretexts for the occupation, which continues its aggression and war of extermination," NBC News reported.
Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at Kings College London's School of Security Studies, told NBC that the group was "giving up the visible burden of governing a devastated Gaza, but it is not yet giving up the instruments that allow it to shape what happens next."
"I would not confuse the dissolution of an administrative body with the surrender of power," Krieg said. "Hamas was never just an institution. Its power rests not only in offices, salaries and municipal administration, but in weapons, internal security networks, social penetration, tunnel infrastructure, patronage, coercion and the idea that armed resistance remains legitimate."
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This story was originally published July 6, 2026 at 3:23 PM.