Qais Abu Samra
26 February 2024•Update: 26 February 2024
RAMALLAH, Palestine
The Palestinian government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh resigned on Monday amid talks to form a unity government.
“The upcoming stage requires new governmental and political arrangements that take into account the developments in the Gaza Strip,” Shtayyeh said during a Cabinet session in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
According to the official news agency Wafa, President Mahmoud Abbas accepted the government’s resignation.
Abbas asked the government to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new cabinet is formed, Wafa said.
The government’s resignation came amid talks between Palestinian factions to form a unity government as Israel continued its onslaught on the Gaza Strip.
Israel has launched a deadly offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas, killing nearly 29,800 people and causing mass destruction and shortages of necessities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed.
The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
Hostilities have continued unabated, however, and aid deliveries remain woefully insufficient to address the humanitarian catastrophe.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio and Ahmed Asmar
