Hamas has dissolved the governing body that has administered the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades, announcing it will hand civilian control to a US-backed committee of Palestinian technocrats — a significant political shift that experts warn still leaves the region's deepest conflict unresolved.
The head of the Hamas media office in Gaza, Ismail al-Thawabta, announced the move on Monday, confirming the group had disbanded its Government Emergency Committee and would transfer administrative responsibilities to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a 15-member technocratic body based in Cairo. The decision marks the formal end of Hamas's grip on civilian governance, which began when the group seized control from rival Palestinian faction Fatah in 2007 following legislative elections the year prior.
Hamas said government ministries and civil servants would remain operational under the new arrangement. Critically, however, the group indicated it would continue to oversee security and policing in parts of Gaza still under its control — a detail that cuts to the heart of why analysts are tempering their optimism.
What the NCAG is and how it fits the peace plan
The NCAG was established as part of a 20-point peace plan put in place following a ceasefire brokered in October 2025, with United States President Donald Trump playing a central role in its design. Trump also created a Board of Peace to oversee the rollout of the agreement.
The committee describes itself as "transitional, technocratic and apolitical," composed exclusively of qualified Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Its stated mandate is limited to civilian affairs and it does not claim to represent Palestinians internationally.
NCAG Chief Commissioner Ali Shaath said the committee was "fully prepared" to take over governance once the necessary conditions were in place, specifying that this required a single governing authority operating under one legal framework with a unified and accountable security apparatus. Shaath described these prerequisites as "fundamental" to creating the political and administrative environment the committee needed to function effectively.
Board of Peace representative Nickolay Mladenov welcomed the announcement, describing it as "bringing the roadmap discussions to a successful conclusion" and calling it "the bridge between declarations and implementation." The Board itself, however, was more measured, stating it would judge progress by "actions, not promises" and reiterating that all weapons must eventually come under NCAG control in line with the Comprehensive Gaza Peace Plan and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803.
The sticking point: Hamas refuses to disarm
Despite the headline significance of Hamas stepping back from civilian governance, experts are pointing to a fundamental problem that Monday's announcement does nothing to resolve: the group has flatly refused to give up its weapons unless Israel first ends its military operations entirely.
Israel, for its part, has consistently maintained that any durable agreement must include Hamas fully disarming and Gaza being completely demilitarised — positions that remain as far apart as ever.
Gaza political expert Mkhaimar Abusada described the move as a "symbolic gesture," arguing that whether Hamas steps back from governance matters far less to the peace process than the question of the group's arsenal. "Hamas has not agreed to disarming itself, and that is still the sticking point," he said.
Ian Parmeter, a Middle East expert at the ANU Centre of Arab and Islamic Studies, was similarly blunt, saying there was "little to no chance" of Hamas disarming — a reality he said was directly undermining prospects for both peace and the reconstruction of the war-torn territory. "Israel is determined that nothing will happen in terms of reconstruction of Gaza as a whole until Hamas gives up its weapons," Parmeter said.
The broader context: nearly two years of devastating conflict
The backdrop to these negotiations is one of immense human suffering. The war that erupted following Hamas's October 7, 2023 attacks — which killed more than 1,000 Israeli civilians and saw over 250 people taken captive — has resulted in approximately 70,000 Palestinian deaths and around 2,000 Israeli fatalities, as well as the destruction of entire cities across Gaza before the ceasefire was signed. Around 30 per cent of those killed in Gaza were children, according to UN investigations, which also found Israel's military response amounted to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Hamas is listed as a terrorist organisation by Australia, the European Union, and several other countries, though a 2018 UN General Assembly vote rejected classifying it as such.
What happens next
For the millions of Palestinians enduring a prolonged humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Monday's announcement offers the prospect of change — but no guarantee of it. The NCAG has made clear it will only take up its responsibilities once the security and governance conditions it requires are established, and those conditions depend heavily on a disarmament process that neither Hamas nor Israel appears close to accepting on the other's terms.
The coming weeks will test whether Hamas's political concession is the first step in a genuine transition or, as some analysts suggest, a carefully managed gesture that leaves the group's military power — and the conflict's fundamental tensions — firmly intact.
