PLO official says ‘no political communication’ with Gaza administration committee

RAMALLAH, Palestine / ISTANBUL

A Palestinian official said Thursday there is “no political communication” between the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG).

“The PLO, as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, sees that its political and legal jurisdiction over the West Bank and Gaza has not changed, even under Trump’s Gaza plan or the establishment of the ‘Board of Peace’,” Bassem al-Salhi, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, told Anadolu.

“Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem form one political and geographic unit that cannot be divided,” he added.

Salhi called on the NCAG to commit to preserving existing laws in Gaza, refraining from introducing new legislation and rejecting any separation of government or authority institutions between Gaza and the West Bank.

He warned that the political situation in Gaza “remains unclear.”

“There is no organized framework for political communication so far between the PLO Executive Committee and this committee,” Salhi said, adding that the PLO is determined to maintain “its full political mandate regardless of governance arrangements in Gaza.”

The NCAG is a nonpolitical body tasked with overseeing daily civil services in the enclave.
It comprises 11 Palestinian figures and is led by Ali Shaath. The committee began operating from the Egyptian capital Cairo in mid-January but has yet to start work inside Gaza, where about 2.4 million Palestinians face severe humanitarian conditions.

The committee is one of four bodies proposed to manage a transitional phase in Gaza, alongside a Board of Peace, a Gaza Executive Council and an International Stabilization Force, under a plan put forward by US President Donald Trump.

It was part of Trump’s plan to end Israel’s two-year war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 72,000 people, mostly women and children, injured over 171,000 others, and destroyed about 90% of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.

*Writing by Lina Altawell