![\"\"](\"https:\/\/natharatmouchrika.net\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0df417ae8d6b700edb18a2f047fc9887-166x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
On January 22, the long-awaited\u00a0Palestinian technocratic committee<\/a>, which is set to administer Gaza under the direction of the U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s so-called\u00a0\u2018Board of Peace<\/a>\u2019, was finally announced.<\/p>\n In his first address to the people of Gaza, the committee\u2019s director, Ali Shaath, said that the Rafah crossing with Egypt, which has been unilaterally closed by Israel since\u00a0May 2024, will be reopened in both directions. The announcement went viral in Gaza, and brought to the forefront a flurry of questions on the minds of Gazan society right now.<\/p>\n Is Trump\u2019s plan for Gaza actually moving forward? What kind of power will this committee actually have? Will Israel actually allow for this next phase of the so-called \u201cceasefire\u201d to move forward? What comes next for the people of Gaza?<\/p>\n And while Hamas has officially welcomed the committee and expressed its commitment to handing over administrative power in the Strip to the committee known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), people in Gaza are nevertheless skeptical over how and when a transfer of power will happen, and whether the committee will actually produce positive results for Gazans, or be just another tool in Israeli and U.S. domination.<\/p>\n \u201cThe committee will not end the crisis immediately, but at least there is a committee that has a green light from the U.S. and mediators to make a difference,\u201d Anwar Abu Jabal, 33, a Gaza resident, said.<\/p>\n Abu Jabal, like many in Gaza, is primarily concerned with reconstruction, and who is going to be able to change the daily living conditions of the millions of people living in tents and bombed-out buildings. He hopes that the committee will be able to rebuild Gaza, or at least, play a role in it. But he remains skeptical and distrustful of the U.S. role in overseeing the committee.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have hope in this committee to rebuild Gaza, especially as it is supported by Trump. However, the same reason we put our hope in this committee can be used against us, because Trump does not care about people in Gaza. We hope this committee cares and starts to get us back to our places first,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For Abu Jabal and others, the presence of familiar names in Gaza on the committee, like Husni al-Mughanni, a well-known tribal leader in Gaza, provides some hope or reassurance that the committee may help alleviate the suffering of Gazans. \u201cWe all in Gaza want one thing: to live in safety and stability, and to have our needs and requirements met without hardship or suffering,\u201d Abu Jabal said.<\/p>\n Others, in fact, most of the Palestinians in Gaza that spoke to\u00a0Mondoweiss<\/em>, are not as hopeful. Many Gazans, like 21-year-old Moaz Zayed, a resident of Nuseirat refugee camp, are concerned about the ultimate control that Trump\u2019s \u2018Board of Peace\u2019, of which Israel is a member, has over Gaza and the Palestinian NCAG.<\/p>\n \u201cIf this committee\u2019s power is confined to managing crossings and aid trucks, then it\u2019s nothing but a play [by the U.S. and Israel] to lead people to think that Palestinians in Gaza have a government now, and that their issues are [being solved],\u201d Zayed said, likening the committee to the ceasefire, which has continuously been violated by Israel since it went into effect, to little international attention or outrage.<\/p>\n To him, while reconstruction is important, opening the Rafah crossing and allowing in aid is secondary to Israel withdrawing its troops from Gaza, the return of all the displaced people to their homes on the Israeli-occupied side of the \u2018yellow line\u2019, and the guarantee of safety and basic human rights for Palestinians in Gaza in their own homeland \u2013 none of which, he pointed out, is currently guaranteed.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m afraid that this committee will be the thing that enforces Trump\u2019s plan on Gaza to turn our homeland into a place that\u2019s not for us,\u201d Zayed said. \u201cWhere are they? Why are they not here in Gaza among the people? My biggest fear is that this committee will be working and ruling the Gaza Strip according to Trump\u2019s and Israel\u2019s instructions.\u201d<\/p>\n While reactions and attitudes in Gaza towards the committee are mixed, there is one sentiment that all Gazans share: the feeling of near certainty that Israel will sabotage any kind of progress for Gaza.<\/p>\n Abdel Hadi Farhat, a journalist from the Gaza Strip, points out that Israel did not adhere at all to the first phase of the ceasefire, and that there is no guarantee it will adhere to the second phase, which includes the work of this newly formed committee.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first phase of the ceasefire witnessed clear non-compliance by the Israeli side with the humanitarian protocol,\u201d Farhat said, referring to the entry of aid and reconstruction materials, and ongoing Israel efforts to bar the work of essential humanitarian groups like M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders. \u201cIt also did not stop bombing operations, assassinations, and the killing of innocent civilians in their displacement areas and in their homes,\u201d Farhat said.<\/p>\n Another journalist, Amer al-Farah, shared similar concerns. \u201cIsrael has continued its siege and the closure of crossings up to this moment,\u201d Al-Farah said, pointing out that at the same time Trump\u2019s Board of Peace was being announced, the Israeli army killed more than ten civilians in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n The concern around Israeli noncompliance and disregard for the role of the committee have been exacerbated by statements from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s office, which said in a statement that \u201cThe announcement regarding the composition of the Gaza Executive Board, which is subordinate to the Board of Peace, was not coordinated with Israel and runs contrary to its policy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nIsrael\u2019s role<\/strong><\/h2>\n