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Israel Says Palestinian Authority in Current Form Should not Run Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 28, 2023. Photo: ABIR SULTAN POOL/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thrown up more doubts about the future of the Gaza Strip, saying that the Palestinian Authority in its current form should not take charge of the coastal enclave.
Israel has vowed to destroy Palestinian group Hamas, which governs Gaza, after its shock Oct. 7 cross-border assault and has launched a full-scale invasion of the territory.
However, it has not spelt out who should rule the enclave once the conflict is over, saying only that Israel would maintain overall security.
Washington has said Israel cannot occupy the enclave after the war, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week saying that the Gaza administration had to be re-unified with the nearby West Bank, parts of which are run by the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday said that the PA could play a future role in governing the Gaza Strip, but Netanyahu indicated late Saturday that he did not want the current PA rulers to be given free rein in Gaza.
At a news conference, Netanyahu aired his long-standing grievances over the PA’s school syllabus, which he says fuels hatred of Israel, and its policy of giving salaries to families of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Such an organization should not take charge of Gaza, he told reporters.
Speaking to NBC News on Sunday, he was even more emphatic.
“We need a different authority. We need a different administration,” Netanyahu said. Asked what sort of body that would be, he replied: “I think it’s too early to say.”
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Abbas, told Reuters the Israelis were seeking to perpetuate divisions between the two Palestinian territories — the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.
“Israeli attempts to separate Gaza from the West Bank will fail, and it will not be allowed, regardless of the pressures,” he told Reuters.
The PA used to run both the West Bank and Gaza but was ousted from the latter in 2007 after a brief civil war with Hamas.
While Western governments want to involve the PA in the future of Gaza, diplomats say, there is also concern that 87-year-old Abbas does not have sufficient authority or support of his people to take charge.
“Right now, there is no clear idea of what might happen in Gaza once the fighting stopped,” a Jerusalem-based diplomat said.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
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