Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas has said that the Palestinian Authority is ready to assume “full responsibility” in post-conflict Gaza, in his first statement since a ceasefire deal was announced between Israel and Hamas, Al Jazeera reports.
“The Palestinian government, under President Abbas’ directives, has completed all preparations to assume full responsibility in Gaza,” a statement from the presidency declared.
Those responsibilities include the return of the displaced to their homes in Gaza, providing basic services, and management and reconstruction of the war-torn territory.
The statement, published by the Palestinian Wafa news agency, also reiterated the call of Abbas’s government for “an immediate ceasefire in and full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip”.