CAIRO, Egypt: Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Wednesday that all the members of a 15-person Palestinian technocratic committee meant to administer post-war Gaza had been agreed upon by all parties.
Hamas officials said earlier in the day that the group had opened talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo on the committee, which forms part of the US-brokered truce plan for the Palestinian territory.
“We hope that following this agreement, the committee will be announced soon… and will then be deployed to the Gaza Strip to manage daily life and essential services,” Abdelatty said.
Earlier, a senior Hamas official, cited by AFP, said that the Cairo meeting aimed to address the formation of the committee and its operational mechanisms.
Separately, the Hamas delegation was to also hold talks in Cairo with leaders of other Palestinian factions on “political, national and field developments” and the state of the Gaza ceasefire, the official added.
Hamas has repeatedly said it does not seek a role in any future governing authority in the Palestinian territory, and would limit its role to monitoring governance to ensure stability and facilitate reconstruction.
Talks with Egyptian mediators will also focus on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the reopening of the Rafah crossing, the entry of aid currently stockpiled on the Egyptian side of the border, and preparations for launching the second phase of the ceasefire plan, the official said.
Another Hamas official familiar with the negotiations had earlier said that Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was expected to issue a decree formally establishing the committee once consensus was reached, AFP reported.
Abdelatty did not name any of the agreed-upon committee members.
But two names circulating as potential heads were Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister of planning in the Palestinian Authority, and Majed Abu Ramadan, the current minister of health, the second official said.
Under Trump’s plan, Gaza would be administered by the Palestinian committee operating under the supervision of a “Board of Peace”, to be chaired by Trump himself.
The board is expected to be led on the ground by Bulgarian diplomat and politician Nickolay Mladenov, who has recently held talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials, AFP reported.
Mladenov previously served as the United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process from early 2015 until the end of 2020.
Media reports say Trump is expected to announce the members of the Board of Peace in the coming days, with the body set to include around 15 world leaders.
