Israel seeks to destroy Hamas, raising the question of who will rule the Palestinian territory after the war.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) could only return to power in the Gaza Strip if a “comprehensive political solution” is found to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas met on Sunday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on another tour of the region as Israel’s deadly military campaign in Gaza approaches a month mark.
“We will fully assume our responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution including the entire (occupied) West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip,” Abbas told Blinken, quoted by the official Palestinian news agency. Wafa.
Israel says Hamas can no longer maintain control of the besieged enclave after the group’s October 7 attack that left around 1,400 Israelis dead – a sentiment supported by Washington.
Hamas, considered a “terrorist” group by the United States and the European Union, is a rival of Abbas’s Fatah party. Hamas took control of Gaza from the PA in 2007, after being prevented from exercising real power despite winning parliamentary elections the previous year.
Israel completely withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, but imposed a crippling blockade on the coastal territory after Hamas seized power.
Blinken made a surprise visit to the occupied West Bank on Sunday as Israel continued its attacks on Gaza, where the death toll has reached nearly 10,000, almost half of them children.
Israeli ground forces also continue to push into Gaza, engaged in heavy fighting with Hamas fighters, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently rejected growing calls for a ceasefire.
In what appeared to be the most direct US position since the war began on October 7, Blinken told Abbas that the PA should play a central role in Gaza’s future, Reuters news agency reported .
The agency cited an unnamed senior US State Department official who said that “the future of Gaza was not the focus of the meeting but that the Palestinian Authority appeared willing to play a role.”
Abbas and Blinken reportedly spoke for about an hour in Ramallah but did not address the media, as Blinken had done during previous legs of his regional trip.
Blinken said Washington was committed to delivering aid to Gaza and restoring essential services after Israel cut off access to food, water and electricity in the besieged enclave .
However, the United States has also opposed a ceasefire, going only so far as to support a “pause” to facilitate humanitarian aid and allow some residents to leave Gaza through the controlled Rafah border crossing. by Egypt.