CAIRO: The Palestinian committee set to govern Gaza under US supervision met for the first time Friday (Jan 16) in Cairo, as its leader pledged to get to work quickly to improve conditions there.
Ali Shaath, an engineer and former Palestinian Authority official from Gaza, expects reconstruction and recovery to take about three years. He plans to focus first on immediate needs, including shelter.
“The Palestinian people were looking forward to this committee, its establishment and its work to rescue them,” Shaath said after the meeting, in a television interview with Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News.
US President Donald Trump supports the group’s efforts to lead Gaza after the two-year war between Israel and Hamas. Israeli troops withdrew from parts of Gaza after the ceasefire took effect on Oct 10, and are now behind the so-called Yellow Line, while thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to what is left of their homes.
“I am backing a newly appointed Palestinian Technocratic Committee, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, supported by the Board’s High Representative, to govern Gaza during its transition,” Trump said Thursday in a social media post.
The committee will run day-to-day affairs in Gaza, under the oversight of a Trump-led “Board of Peace,” whose members have not yet been named.