The Palestinian Authority government, which sits in the occupied West Bank, submitted its resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said. “I presented the government’s resignation to Mr. President on February 20 and I submit it today in writing,” Mr. Shtayyeh declared in Ramallah. “I presented the resignation of the government to Mr. President on February 20 and I am submitting it today in writing,” declared Mr. Shtayyeh in Ramallah, specifying that this decision came in particular “in light of the developments linked to the “aggression against Gaza” and “escalation” in the occupied West Bank.
Since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7 between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, many Palestinians have criticized President Mahmoud Abbas, 88, for his “helplessness” in the face of Israeli raids in the Gaza Strip and the rise of violence in the occupied West Bank. Since fratricidal clashes in June 2007, the Palestinian leadership has been divided between the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas, which exercises limited power in the West Bank, territory occupied since 1967 by Israel, while Hamas controls the Gaza Strip.
“Amicable divorce”
The resignation of the Shtayyeh government comes as countries in the Western region and opponents of Mahmoud Abbas are pleading for a reformed Palestinian Authority which would ultimately be in charge of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, under the banner of an independent Palestinian state. In an interview last week with AFP, opponent Nasser al-Kidwa, nephew of the late Yasser Arafat, called for an “amicable divorce” with Mahmoud Abbas and for a new unity of the Palestinian political leadership, including some members of Hamas.
The war was provoked on October 7 by an unprecedented attack carried out in Israel by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza, which resulted in the death of at least 1,160 people, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count. based on official Israeli data. In retaliation, Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007 and which it considers, along with the United States and the European Union, to be a terrorist organization. The Israeli offensive has left 29,692 dead in Gaza, the vast majority civilians, since October 7, according to the latest report from the Hamas Ministry of Health.