Hamas Renounces Governance of Gaza Amid Stalled "Board of Peace" Process, Ongoing Israeli Attacks

[Uncle Joe]

As part of the U.S.-backed "Board of Peace" 20-point plan to end Israel's military assault on Gaza, Hamas is dissolving its civilian governing body in the Gaza Strip. Hamas's head of administration, Mohammed al-Farra, resigned from his position on Monday. Hamas, which has controlled the territory for nearly two decades, has said that its ministries and staff will stay in place, and that it will still oversee security and policing in parts of Gaza left under its control.

The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, NCAG, was formed in January 2026 and is meant to take transitional control. "In practice," says Amjad Iraqi, senior Israel-Palestine analyst at the International Crisis Group, "Hamas is still the de facto governing authority on the Palestinian-populated side of Gaza. The NCAG, the Palestinian technocratic committee that's supposed to take over those governing duties, is still basically stuck in Cairo and not allowed to enter into Gaza to assume those duties."

Since the deal was signed in October, Israel has continued to uphold its blockade of Gaza, preventing people and aid from traveling through its heavily policed borders. It has also violated the deal's ceasefire provisions on a near-daily basis, killing nearly 1,100 Palestinians, including women, children and other unarmed civilians. "Very little of this, if any, is actually being called out either by [Board of Peace High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov] or by the U.S. officials, and what they're actually doing is allowing Israel to keep bending the terms of the ceasefire, if not openly violating it," says Iraqi.