Hamas says it will dissolve Gaza govt when new Palestinian body takes over

Hamas has said it will dissolve its existing government in Gaza once a Palestinian technocratic leadership committee takes over the territory as mandated under the USbrokered peace plan But the group on Sunday gave no specifics on when the change will occurHamas and the rival Palestinian Authority the Palestinians internationally recognised representative have not announced the names of the technocrats who are not supposed to be politically affiliated and it remains unclear if they will be cleared by Israel and the USThe Board of Peace an international body led by Trump is supposed to oversee the government and other aspects of the ceasefire that took effect on Oct 10 including disarming Hamas and deploying an international security force The boards members have not been announcedMeanwhile the postceasefire death toll continued to rise in Gaza with Israeli gunfire killing three Palestinians according to Palestinian hospital officials The ceasefire began with a halt in fighting and the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for thousands of Palestinians held by Israel The deal is still in its first phase as efforts continue to recover the remains of the final hostage left in GazaAn Egyptian official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closeddoor information said Hamas was sending a delegation to talks with Egyptian Qatari and Turkish officials about moving to the second phase In comments posted on his Telegram channel Sunday Hazem Kassem a Hamas spokesperson called for speeding up the establishment of the technocratic committeeThe Egyptian official said Hamas will meet with other Palestinian factions this week to finalise the committees formation The Hamas delegation will be chaired by top negotiator Khalil alHayya the official said Trump has said the Board of Peace will monitor the committee and handle the disarmament of Hamas the deployment of an international security force additional pullbacks of Israeli troops and Gazas reconstructionThe US has reported little progress on any of these fronts though the members of the board are expected to be announced this week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov has been selected as the boards directorgeneral Mladenov is a former Bulgarian defence and foreign minister who served as UN envoy to Iraq before being appointed as the UN Mideast peace envoy from 2015 to 2020During that time he had good working relations with Israel and frequently worked to ease IsraelHamas tensions Also Sunday Israels Foreign Minister Gideon Saar met in Jerusalem with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi Saar said Israel was committed to enforcing Trumps plan while Motegi expressed Japans willingness to play an active role in the ceasefireAccording to Japans Foreign Ministry Motegi visited the CivilMilitary Coordination Centre where the ceasefire is being monitored He was also set to meet Netanyahu and Palestinian officials in the Israelioccupied West Bank In Gaza two men were shot dead in the southern town of Bani Suhaila according to Nasser Hospital which received the bodies Earlier Sunday a man was killed by Israeli gunfire in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City according to AlAhly hospital which received the bodyIn response to questions about the Tuffah incident Israels military said it had fired at and hit a terrorist in northern Gaza who had approached troops In a later statement the military said it had killed a terrorist in southern Gaza who approached troops Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the ceasefire Continued Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed more than 400 Palestinians according to local health officialsThe Israeli military says any actions since the ceasefire began have been in response to violations of the agreement Israeli police said Sunday they were questioning a top official from Netanyahus office over possible obstruction of an investigation into last years leak of classified military information to a German tabloidIsraeli media identified the official as Tzachi Braverman Netanyahus chief of staff who is expected to start as the next ambassador to the United Kingdom in the coming months Hes the latest official to be caught up in the scandal in which Netanyahus inner circle is accused of leaking confidential information to German tabloid Bild to improve public perception of the prime minister following the killing of six hostages in Gaza in 2024It comes after an explosive interview by Kan News with former Netanyahu spokesperson Eli Feldstein who described a clandestine meeting with Braverman in an underground parking lot in the middle of the night in connection with the leak Feldstein who has been indicted said Braverman offered to shut down the probe into the leaked informationOpposition leader Yair Lapid immediately called for the suspension of Braverman as ambassador It is unacceptable that a person suspected of involvement in obstructing a serious security investigation should be the face of Israel in one of Europes most important countries Lapid wrote on X In response Saar defended Bravermans appointment and said he would not be removed from it until formally charged or triedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever