Nineteen years after assuming the presidency, Mahmud Abbas has timidly begun reforming the Palestinian Authority under US pressure, though diplomats were unconvinced a revamped administration was ready for a post-Gaza conflict future, i reports.

Abbas, 88, is dogged by low popularity among Palestinians and Israel’s decades-old occupation of the West Bank where his government is based.

In January, just over three months into the Israel-Hamas war, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Abbas in Ramallah and urged “administrative reforms” to benefit Palestinians and potentially reunite the West Bank and Gaza under a single rule.

The Palestinian president has moved to fill vacant governor positions and on March 15 appointed economist and long-trusted adviser Mohammed Mustafa as prime minister.

It is “a start, but it won’t be enough”, said Hasan Khreisheh, deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the PA’s parliament which has not met since 2007.

Abbas is expected to name a full government by early April, and Khreisheh said the White House is expecting a cabinet “as soon as possible”.