Earlier on Wednesday, Hamas and its ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) said in a joint statement that they had agreed to support the efforts to form the technocratic Palestinian government “while providing the appropriate environment” for it to begin work.
The PA – which is dominated by Fatah, Hamas’s rival – also expressed support.
Vice-President Hussein al-Sheikh said Trump’s leadership urged all Palestinian factions, institutions and segments of society to “ensure the success of this critical transitional phase”. He also stressed the importance of linking institutions in the West Bank and Gaza in order to uphold “the principle of one system, one law, and one legitimate weapon”.
According to Trump’s plan, the PA will take over governing Gaza once it has completed reforms and can do so “securely and effectively”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had spoken on Wednesday evening with the parents of Ran Gvili, the last dead hostage in Gaza.
He made it clear to Itzik and Talik Gvili that “Ran’s return is a top priority and that the declaratory move regarding the establishment of a technocratic committee will not affect the efforts to return Ran for a Jewish burial”, the office added.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum insisted: “There is no phase 2 while Ran Gvili in Gaza. Phase Rani must come first.”
The Israeli government had accused Hamas of deliberately delaying the recovery of the 24-year-old police officer’s remains and said it will not reopen the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt – one of its obligations under phase one – until they are handed over.
Gvili was among the 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 other people were killed.
Israel responded to the attack by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 71,430 people have been killed, according to the territory’s health ministry.