DaysofPal – A senior Hamas official has said that Israeli conditions imposed at the Rafah border crossing are obstructing the movement of travelers and preventing any meaningful facilitation of entry to or exit from the Gaza Strip.
Speaking to media outlets, Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad stated that Israel is not interested in easing travel through Rafah, stressing that the continued Israeli killings undermine efforts to enable the work of the independent national committee tasked with administering Gaza.
Hamad emphasized that Hamas’s top priority is the assumption of duties by the independent national committee for Gaza’s administration. He said the committee must be provided with a clear budget to allow it to begin operating effectively, adding that Israel shows no willingness to move forward to the second phase of the Gaza agreement.
“We do not understand why the independent national committee for managing Gaza has not yet begun its work,” Hamad said, pointing to ongoing Israeli actions that obstruct the process.
In a related statement, Hamas announced that it has completed all required arrangements with governmental and administrative bodies in preparation for handing over responsibilities to the national committee immediately upon its entry into Gaza.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the movement had formed a supervisory body made up of representatives from political factions, clans, civil society groups, and figures linked to international institutions.
This body, he explained, will oversee the transfer of governmental and administrative authorities to the Gaza administration committee.
Qassem called on all parties to facilitate the committee’s mission, saying its work is essential to launching a recovery process after two years of war.
These remarks coincided with the reopening of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt for limited two-way travel under strict restrictions, one day after the Israeli army completed the installation of an internal inspection point at the crossing.
Israel has controlled the Palestinian side of Rafah since May 2024, as part of its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that began in October 2023.
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