‘The choice is ours’ Hamas says in talks with Palestinian factions over Gaza rule

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Hamas is holding talks with various Palestinian factions to establish a new administration in postwar Gaza, a senior official of the militant group in Lebanon told media in an interview, dismissing various plans floated by the US and Israel as “unacceptable”.

These proposals included the imposition of an Israeli security presence, an Israeli-installed Palestinian civil administration and a multinational coalition to govern the ravaged coastal strip.

“We are now in dialogue with the Palestinian factions and all agree that the form of the next phase is a Palestinian national decision,” Osama Hamdan, the senior Hamas representative in Lebanon, said in the interview.

”As for how and with what mechanisms, that is part of the ongoing dialogue.”

Israel, mired in a war launched with the stated goal of eliminating Hamas and freeing hostages, has suggested a number of day-after scenarios for postwar Gaza.

The US, a staunch backer of Israel, has pushed for renewed negotiations over a two-state solution between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories and proposed Gaza be run by a revitalised Palestinian Authority – a suggestion that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected.

According to Mr Hamdan, Israel and the US possess little leverage with which to impose their vision of a postwar Gaza.

“Israel is trying to impose their decision but the choice remains ours,” he said. “Talk of the day after is a discussion for us as Palestinians, not an external discussion. As Palestinians, we decide.”

More than four months into its assault on the enclave, the Israeli military has caused widespread destruction through aerial and ground bombardment, displacing about 85 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million and killing more than 24,000 Palestinians – the vast majority of them women and children, local health authorities say.

This war is one of Israel’s longest since 1948, when the state was created following the mass forced exodus of Palestinians.

Israeli troops have faced severe military impediments as they fight Hamas’s well-prepared armed wing, Al Qassam Brigades, on largely unfamiliar territory.