Hamas announced on July 6 it dissolved the Emergency Committee that has governed Gaza since 2007 to allow a technocratic body, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), to take over civilian rule [1, 2, 3, 4]. Mohammed al-Farra, acting head of the Emergency Committee, resigned from his post as part of the transition, with Hamas government media head Ismail al-Thawabta confirming, "The head of the government’s emergency committee Mohammed al-Farra has officially submitted his resignation" [1].
The NCAG is a non-political technocratic committee made up of Palestinian national figures, operating under UN backing and formed as part of a ceasefire agreement brokered by the US following President Donald Trump's peace plan announced in September 2025 [1, 2, 3, 4]. The committee has been functioning from Cairo since mid-January 2026 but has yet to assume governing authority inside Gaza itself [1, 3, 4].
Hamas stated only technical and professional staff will remain in place to handle day-to-day affairs during the transition period [2]. Ismail al-Thawabta expressed hope the move would help "bring an end to the aggression, stop the genocide, secure the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip, reopen the crossings to allow the entry of aid trucks and end the policy of starvation" [2].
Nikolay Mladenov, the UN peace envoy, praised the decision as a crucial link between dialogue and action. He said, "The decision underscores the importance of bringing the roadmap discussions to a successful conclusion. It is the bridge between declarations and implementation" and noted that it could "allow the decommissioning of weapons to begin, facilitate the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and pave the way for large-scale reconstruction" [4].
The US-brokered ceasefire took effect in October 2025 after Trump's peace plan announcement in late September 2025 [1, 4]. Since the start of fighting in October 2023, over 73,000 people have died in Gaza, with more than 1,005 deaths occurring after the ceasefire began [2, 4].
The dissolution of the Emergency Committee marks a significant step to implement the roadmap for postwar Gaza governance. The next phase is expected to see the NCAG take operational control inside Gaza, transitioning authority away from Hamas’s previous structures [1, 3, 4].
