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By Tareq S. Hajjaj / Mondoweiss
On January 22, the long-awaited Palestinian technocratic committee, which is set to administer Gaza under the direction of the U.S. President Donald Trump’s so-called ‘Board of Peace’, was finally announced.
In his first address to the people of Gaza, the committee’s director, Ali Shaath, said that the Rafah crossing with Egypt, which has been unilaterally closed by Israel since May 2024, will be reopened in both directions. The announcement went viral in Gaza, and brought to the forefront a flurry of questions on the minds of Gazan society right now.
Is Trump’s plan for Gaza actually moving forward? What kind of power will this committee actually have? Will Israel actually allow for this next phase of the so-called “ceasefire” to move forward? What comes next for the people of Gaza?
And while Hamas has officially welcomed the committee and expressed its commitment to handing over administrative power in the Strip to the committee known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), people in Gaza are nevertheless skeptical over how and when a transfer of power will happen, and whether the committee will actually produce positive results for Gazans, or be just another tool in Israeli and U.S. domination.
“The committee will not end the crisis immediately, but at least there is a committee that has a green light from the U.S. and mediators to make a difference,” Anwar Abu Jabal, 33, a Gaza resident, said.
Abu Jabal, like many in Gaza, is primarily concerned with reconstruction, and who is going to be able to change the daily living conditions of the millions of people living in tents and bombed-out buildings. He hopes that the committee will be able to rebuild Gaza, or at least, play a role in it. But he remains skeptical and distrustful of the U.S. role in overseeing the committee.
“We have hope in this committee to rebuild Gaza, especially as it is supported by Trump. However, the same reason we put our hope in this committee can be used against us, because Trump does not care about people in Gaza. We hope this committee cares and starts to get us back to our places first,” he said.
For Abu Jabal and others, the presence of familiar names in Gaza on the committee, like Husni al-Mughanni, a well-known tribal leader in Gaza, provides some hope or reassurance that the committee may help alleviate the suffering of Gazans. “We all in Gaza want one thing: to live in safety and stability, and to have our needs and requirements met without hardship or suffering,” Abu Jabal said.
Others, in fact, most of the Palestinians in Gaza that spoke to Mondoweiss, are not as hopeful. Many Gazans, like 21-year-old Moaz Zayed, a resident of Nuseirat refugee camp, are concerned about the ultimate control that Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’, of which Israel is a member, has over Gaza and the Palestinian NCAG.
“If this committee’s power is confined to managing crossings and aid trucks, then it’s nothing but a play [by the U.S. and Israel] to lead people to think that Palestinians in Gaza have a government now, and that their issues are [being solved],” Zayed said, likening the committee to the ceasefire, which has continuously been violated by Israel since it went into effect, to little international attention or outrage.
To him, while reconstruction is important, opening the Rafah crossing and allowing in aid is secondary to Israel withdrawing its troops from Gaza, the return of all the displaced people to their homes on the Israeli-occupied side of the ‘yellow line’, and the guarantee of safety and basic human rights for Palestinians in Gaza in their own homeland – none of which, he pointed out, is currently guaranteed.
“I’m afraid that this committee will be the thing that enforces Trump’s plan on Gaza to turn our homeland into a place that’s not for us,” Zayed said. “Where are they? Why are they not here in Gaza among the people? My biggest fear is that this committee will be working and ruling the Gaza Strip according to Trump’s and Israel’s instructions.”
Israel’s role
While reactions and attitudes in Gaza towards the committee are mixed, there is one sentiment that all Gazans share: the feeling of near certainty that Israel will sabotage any kind of progress for Gaza.
Abdel Hadi Farhat, a journalist from the Gaza Strip, points out that Israel did not adhere at all to the first phase of the ceasefire, and that there is no guarantee it will adhere to the second phase, which includes the work of this newly formed committee.
“The first phase of the ceasefire witnessed clear non-compliance by the Israeli side with the humanitarian protocol,” Farhat said, referring to the entry of aid and reconstruction materials, and ongoing Israel efforts to bar the work of essential humanitarian groups like Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders. “It also did not stop bombing operations, assassinations, and the killing of innocent civilians in their displacement areas and in their homes,” Farhat said.
Another journalist, Amer al-Farah, shared similar concerns. “Israel has continued its siege and the closure of crossings up to this moment,” Al-Farah said, pointing out that at the same time Trump’s Board of Peace was being announced, the Israeli army killed more than ten civilians in the Gaza Strip.
The concern around Israeli noncompliance and disregard for the role of the committee have been exacerbated by statements from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, which said in a statement that “The announcement regarding the composition of the Gaza Executive Board, which is subordinate to the Board of Peace, was not coordinated with Israel and runs contrary to its policy.”
“Israel does not want peace, security, stability, or reconstruction for the Gaza Strip, Azmi al-Duweima, a resident of the Gaza Strip, told Mondoweiss.
“All it wants is to keep Gaza as it is — destroyed and uninhabitable, lacking food, water, and the basic necessities of life — in order to push Palestinians to leave the Strip of their own accord. This is its goal, and it will not allow the formation of any government unless it is subordinate to Israel itself,” he continued.
“If this committee is not directly subordinate to Israel and does not receive instructions and orders from it, Israel will obstruct its work in Gaza and may not even allow it to enter the Strip,” al-Duweima adds.
Despite al-Duweima’s deep skepticism, which reflects a significant segment of the Gaza population, he says he still has some hope – as long as the committee acts in the interests of Palestinians in Gaza, not the interests of Israel and the United States.
“We place our great hopes on allowing this committee to enter the Gaza Strip and to begin its work across various sectors— agriculture, industry, trade, housing, reconstruction, education, and all the portfolios for which members have been appointed. We place our hopes on this committee and on the countries that support the Palestinian people in ending their suffering, rebuilding the Strip, and returning us to our lands and homes inside the yellow line. We will stand by this committee and support it with everything we can so that we can rise again from the rubble and rebuild our country anew.”
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Tareq S. Hajjaj
Tareq S. Hajjaj is the Mondoweiss Gaza Correspondent, and a member of the Palestinian Writers Union. He studied English Literature at Al-Azhar University in Gaza. He started his career in journalism in 2015 working as a news writer and translator for the local newspaper, Donia al-Watan. He has reported for Elbadi, Middle East Eye, and Al Monitor. Follow him on Twitter at @Tareqshajjaj.