Egypt announces Israel-approved 15-member Palestinian council to govern Gaza

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Hamas would have no role in governing during the transitional period.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Egypt announced that Israel and Hamas have approved a 15-member Palestinian administrative team to govern Gaza during the postwar transition period, signaling progress toward implementing President Donald Trump’s peace framework for the territory’s reconstruction.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told The Associated Press that the group composed of Palestinian technocrats was vetted by Israel and endorsed by all Palestinian factions, including Hamas.

He said the committee will “take care of the daily life of the people in Gaza,” while the “Board of Peace,” chaired by President Trump, will oversee the flow of reconstruction funds.

“We need to deploy them to take care of daily life,” Abdelatty said, noting that Hamas members have “no role in the transitional period” and have agreed to allow the administrative committee to operate on the ground.

Abdelatty spoke on the eve of a high-level summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, where regional and international leaders met to coordinate Gaza’s recovery.

He emphasized that Israel is expected to complete its withdrawal and facilitate humanitarian access, while Hamas must uphold its commitments under the ceasefire agreement.

A United Nations Development Program official, Jaco Cilliers, said multiple nations—including European states, Canada, and the United States—are prepared to contribute to the roughly $70 billion needed to rebuild Gaza.

He estimated that at least 55 million tons of rubble were generated by the two-year war that began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023, assault on Israel, and that full recovery could take decades.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also pledged to rally financial backing from Gulf, US, and European partners, saying the early response had been “promising.”

At the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, FIFA President Gianni Infantino joined President Trump and other world leaders, committing the international football organization to help rebuild Gaza’s sports facilities destroyed in the conflict.

“Football’s role has to be to support, to unite, to give hope,” Infantino said, announcing plans for new fields, youth programs, and “FIFA Arenas” as part of the broader reconstruction effort.