Hamas says it will dissolve Gaza civilian governing arm

{"text":[[{"start":7.9,"text":"Hamas said on Monday that it has dissolved its governing arm in Gaza and was preparing to hand over governance to a committee of technocrats formed under the terms of a US-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel."}],[{"start":20.5,"text":"The Palestinian militant group said its Emergency Governing Committee had been disbanded and its head Mohamed Abdul Khaleq al-Farra had resigned, but that the Gaza civil service would continue to function."}],[{"start":33.75,"text":"Hamas made no mention of turning over its weapons, a prerequisite under the deal for reconstruction in Gaza to proceed. The militant group has so far refused to give up its arms, and Israeli forces continue to occupy more than half of the strip."}],[{"start":48.95,"text":"There is deep scepticism on whether Hamas will truly relinquish power in the part of Gaza it has continued to run since a ceasefire brought the worst of the fighting to an end in October, and some analysts interpreted the move as an effort to put pressure on Israel and the Board of Peace."}],[{"start":66.75,"text":"The board, the body appointed by US President Donald Trump to oversee the ceasefire deal and plans for reconstruction, said its assessment of Hamas’s announcement “will be guided by actions, not promises”."}],[{"start":80,"text":"The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, NCAG, the transitional body of Palestinian technocrats intended to take over governance in the strip, was formed in January but its members remain stuck in Cairo."}],[{"start":92.8,"text":"Nickolay Mladenov, who heads the Board of Peace’s Gaza executive board, said that “the sooner agreement is reached on the outstanding implementation . . . the sooner the NCAG can assume its responsibilities, the decommissioning of weapons and the withdrawal of Israeli forces can begin, and large-scale reconstruction can commence”."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":112.1,"text":"An Israeli official said “the alleged resignation of the Hamas government, in which all its members remain in their positions, is spin that has no meaning”."}],[{"start":121.44999999999999,"text":"Mostafa Ibrahim, a Gaza-based political analyst, said that progress on the deal had been “stuck on the weapons issue, even though Israel has not adhered to its obligations under the first phase of the deal”."}],[{"start":134.35,"text":"Israel has continued to carry out strikes in Gaza since the ceasefire came into force, killing more than 1,000 people since October 10."}],[{"start":143.04999999999998,"text":"Conditions in the territory were “suffocating”, Ibrahim said, adding that Israel had only partly complied with its obligations under the agreement to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza."}],[{"start":154.49999999999997,"text":"The majority of the 2.1mn population live in the half of Gaza controlled by Hamas."}],[{"start":160.84999999999997,"text":"Most Gazans have been displaced multiple times during the two-year war and the majority live in tents lacking basic utilities or in the ruins of their wrecked homes. "}],[{"start":171.24999999999997,"text":"Tom Fletcher, head of the UN humanitarian relief agency OCHA, told the Security Council in June that Palestinians in Gaza “remained deprived of the basics that you would all demand for your own families: safety, shelter, clean water, healthcare, education”."}],[{"start":186.94999999999996,"text":"He added that 70 per cent of the population needed proper shelter and that essential services were “on the brink”, while no hospital was fully operational."}],[{"start":195.69999999999996,"text":"Additional reporting by James Shotter"}],[{"start":206.19999999999996,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1783391694_9959.mp3"}