Post-war governance in Gaza ‘purely Palestinian matter': Palestinian factions

Palestinian factions said Friday that the form of governance in the Gaza Strip, areas governed by the Palestinian Authority and the day after the Israeli onslaught is “a purely Palestinian matter that will not allow anyone to tamper with.”

It came in a statement by the Follow-Up Committee of National and Islamic Forces -- a majority of Palestinian factions -- following the announcement by the Internal Front in Gaza, affiliated with the Gaza government, days ago about the arrest of a “suspicious force” that infiltrated the enclave.

“The Follow-Up Committee of National and Islamic Forces has closely monitored reports of an attempt by a suspicious force to tamper in the Gaza Strip, and has been briefed on available information about a scheme and illusions to control the northern areas of the Strip in direct coordination with the (Israeli) occupation,” it said. “The Hamas movement is an integral and essential national component in the fabric of the Palestinian people, which carries its flag in all colors and encompasses all spectra.”

The Committee said: “Any effort to alleviate our people's suffering must be in accordance with principles and laws, and in coordination with the relevant authorities managing the affairs of the strip, and it is not permissible for anyone to violate this rule.”

The statement stated that “those who want to attack Gaza and the resistance, and seek to impose themselves as an alternative in the midst of the conflict with the enemy, are partners of the occupation and take their credentials from it.”

The Internal Front in the Gaza Strip announced the infiltration of officers and soldiers belonging to the General Palestinian Intelligence Service on an official mission through aid trucks under direct orders from the head of the apparatus, Majed Faraj, in what it described as an “intelligence operation.”

It noted that “security agencies in Gaza dealt with these elements, and 10 of them were arrested and the plan they came for was thwarted.”

It said: “The aim of these individuals was to create a state of confusion and chaos within the ranks of the internal front, and they infiltrated with the security coordination of the Shin Bet and the Israeli army.”

But the Palestinian news agency, WAFA, quoted a Palestinian official source last Monday who said, “The statement issued by the so-called Hamas Ministry of Interior regarding the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip yesterday has no basis in truth.”

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack in early October by the Palestinian group, Hamas, killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 33,000 Palestinians have since been killed and 75,577 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which last week asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.