Neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority will control the Gaza Strip after the war ends, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday in response to a report which claimed Hamas would hand over Gaza to the PA.
"I'm committed to US President Donald Trump's plan to create a different Gaza," Netanyahu added. "It will not be," the Prime Minister's spokesperson said of the report, reiterating a similar stance.
On Sunday night, sources told Sky News Arabia that Hamas expressed that they would be ready to hand the Gaza Strip over to the Palestinian Authority.
The sources reportedly explained that Hamas said that any of their government employees would be "re-absorbed into the new administration or that they would retire, with a guarantee that their salaries be paid."
The report further stated that Hamas's alleged decision comes "after significant Egyptian pressure on the Hamas delegation that visited Cairo."
Israel will send a working group delegation to Cairo on Monday to hold talks on the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal, the Prime Minister’s Office disclosed on Sunday.
Discussing the next phase of the hostage deal
The delegation will be headed by the Coordinator for Hostages and the Missing Brig.-Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch and “M.,” a Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) official.
The team will discuss the implementation of the hostage deal’s first phase, in which the six remaining living hostages are expected to be released.
Amichai Stein contributed to this report.