Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday the Palestinian Authority was ready to assume "full responsibility" in post-war Gaza, in his first statement since a ceasefire deal was announced.
"The Palestinian government, under president Abbas' directives, has completed all preparations to assume full responsibility in Gaza," including the return of the displaced, providing basic services, crossings management and reconstruction of the war-torn territory, a presidency statement said.
Hamas, which won the last Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, indicated earlier in the war that it was not seeking to govern post-conflict Gaza.
Hamas sources have told AFP they would be ready to hand over Gaza's civilian affairs to a Palestinian entity.
Currently, Israel has no definitive stance on post-war governance beyond rejecting any role for both Hamas and the PA.
Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have repeatedly opposed Hamas or the PA ruling the Palestinian Territory.
But US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that the PA should be the one to run the coastal territory.
Palestinian leaders across factions have long said that Gaza's future is for them to decide, rejecting any outside interference.
Meanwhile, Israel's cabinet convened yesterday to vote on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that should take effect this weekend, Netanyahu's office said.
The agreement, which was earlier approved by the security cabinet, would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza's deadliest-ever war.
It would also launch tomorrow the release of hostages held in the territory since Oct 7, 2023.
Under the deal struck by Qatar, the US and Egypt, the following weeks should also see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
The justice ministry published a list of 95 Palestinians to be freed starting tomorrow, "subject to government approval".
They include 69 women, 16 men and 10 minors.
The Israel Prison Service said it would prevent any "public displays of joy" when Palestinian prisoners are released.
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israel pounded several areas of the territory, killing more than 100 people and wounding hundreds more since the deal was announced on Wednesday.
In aid-starved Gaza, where nearly all of its 2.4mn people have been displaced at least once, aid workers worry about the monumental task ahead.
"Everything has been destroyed, children are on the streets, you can't pinpoint just one priority," Doctors Without Borders (MSF) co-ordinator Amande Bazerolle told AFP.
Region
Palestinian Authority ready to assume 'full responsibility' in Gaza
Israeli cabinet convenes to vote on ceasefire deal

A woman walks past the rubble of a collapsed building at a camp for people displaced by conflict in Bureij in the central Gaza Strip on Friday following the announcement of a truce amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. AFP