In a significant development, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has announced that he had submitted his government’s resignation to the President Mahmoud Abbas.
This came in a speech delivered by Shtayyeh during the weekly government session in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
During the session, Shtayyeh said, “I placed the government’s resignation at the disposal of President Mahmoud Abbas, and informed him of it on Tuesday, February 20, and today I submit it in writing.”
He pointed out that the decision to resign “comes in light of the political, security and economic developments related to the aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip, and the unprecedented escalation in the West Bank, including the city of Jerusalem.”
Shtayyeh continued that this comes in addition to “the intensification of settlement, the unprecedented financial strangulation, the attempt to liquidate the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, and the gradual annexation of Palestinian lands,” Wafa News Agency reported.
“The government worked in complex circumstances, and faced battles imposed on it in light of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip,” Shtayyeh said.
“We will remain in confrontation with the occupation, and the National Authority will continue to struggle to establish the state on the lands of Palestine, against their (the Israelis’) will.”
He added that the next stage “needs new governmental political arrangements that take into account the developments in the Gaza Strip, the national unity talks, and the urgent need to achieve a Palestinian consensus based on a national basis, broad participation, unity of ranks, and the extension of authority over the entire land of Palestine.”
The move comes as US pressure on Abbas intensifies as they seek to reform the Palestinian Authority (PA) and establish a political structure for post-war Palestinian governance.
Israel has consistently refuted the Palestinian Authority’s current rule in Gaza and its potential leadership in a future Palestinian state.
The West Bank is witnessing increasing tension and confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces, including raids and arrests, in line with Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza Strip.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, resulting in nearly 30,000 deaths, infrastructure destruction, and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
