An quick ceasefire and an Israeli departure from Gaza are the prime priorities of the new cabinet that Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, who will also serve as Foreign Minister, formed on Thursday, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Mustafa, a prominent businessman and confidant of President Mahmoud Abbas, was named premier this month with the responsibility of assisting in the restructuring of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has limited autonomy within the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
In addition, he was given the responsibility of overseeing the reconstruction and relief efforts in Gaza, which has been devastated by almost five months of fighting. He also serves as foreign minister, taking over for Riyad al-Maliki, who held the role since 2009.
According to WAFA, he approved Mustafa's cabinet, which included Omar al-Bitar, a financial expert, as finance minister and Muhamad al Amour, the president of the Palestinian Businessmen Association, as minister of economy. Ziad Hab al-Reeh, the former head of the PA's internal intelligence agency, was retained as interior minister.
There will be a state minister for "relief affairs" in the upcoming cabinet.
In a cabinet statement addressed to Abbas, Mustafa stated that the top national goal is an immediate end to hostilities in Gaza and an Israeli withdrawal from the territory, along with permitting large-scale humanitarian relief to enter and reach every area, according to WAFA.
"Stop the aggression and settlement activities in order to facilitate the beginning of the recovery process and the preparation for reconstruction, and curb settlers’ terrorism in the West Bank,” Mustafa added.
Although it has criticized Mustafa's selection, Hamas, the movement that ruled Gaza until Israel invaded it following the attack on southern Israel on October 7, did not immediately respond to the announcement of his new government.
Long-standing tensions existed between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah political group, which rules the PA. The two groups even engaged in a brief conflict before to Fatah's expulsion from the region in 2007.
Nonetheless, it has consistently denounced the Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip subsequent to the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 and has maintained that it needs to be involved in the governance of Gaza post-conflict.
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