Palestinian Prime Minister Says Gaza Situation Dire

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa described the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip as dire on Saturday, calling for the immediate removal of obstacles hindering the work of the Administrative Committee tasked with overseeing civilian affairs in the war-battered enclave. Speaking in remarks carried by Al Jazeera Mubasher, Mustafa said the committee, formed by the Palestinian Authority to manage day-to-day governance in Gaza following the ceasefire, has been unable to operate effectively due to a combination of Israeli restrictions, funding shortfalls, and unresolved political disputes over its mandate.

The Prime Minister stressed that more than two years of war have left Gaza's civilian infrastructure in ruins, with hospitals, schools, water networks, and electricity grids operating far below minimum thresholds. He warned that without urgent international intervention to facilitate the committee's work, the territory risks sliding deeper into a humanitarian catastrophe that aid agencies have already described as unprecedented in scale. Reconstruction estimates compiled by the United Nations and the World Bank place the cost of rebuilding Gaza at more than 50 billion dollars and suggest the process will take decades unless a coordinated political and financial framework is put in place.

Mustafa called on regional and international partners to pressure Israel to lift movement restrictions on goods, fuel, and personnel entering the Strip, and to allow the Administrative Committee to extend its authority across all of Gaza's governorates. He also urged donor states to accelerate disbursement of pledged aid, noting that a significant portion of funds promised at recent reconstruction conferences has yet to materialise.

Qatar has played a central role in mediating the Gaza ceasefire alongside Egypt and the United States, and has been among the largest donors to humanitarian relief in the Strip. Doha has repeatedly stressed the need for a unified Palestinian governance framework as a precondition for sustainable reconstruction, a position echoed by other Gulf Cooperation Council states. Qatari officials have also warned that delays in stabilising Gaza's civilian administration risk undermining the broader ceasefire arrangement and could create a vacuum exploited by armed factions outside the political process.

The Administrative Committee, announced earlier this year as part of efforts to restore Palestinian Authority oversight in Gaza, has faced criticism from multiple factions over its composition and powers. Mustafa's intervention appears aimed at reviving momentum behind the body and pressing donors and mediators to back it as the legitimate civilian authority in the Strip. He concluded by reaffirming the Palestinian Authority's commitment to a single national framework governing both the West Bank and Gaza, describing it as essential to any credible path toward statehood.