The terrorist group Hamas on Friday criticized the "unilateral" designation by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of an ally and leading business figure as prime minister with a mandate to help reform the Palestinian Authority (PA) and rebuild Gaza.
Mohammad Mustafa's appointment comes after mounting pressure to overhaul the governing body of the Palestinian territories and improve governance in the West Bank where it is based.
Hamas said the decision was taken without consulting it despite recently taking part in a meeting in Moscow also attended by Abbas's Fatah movement to end long-time divisions weakening Palestinian political aspirations.
"We express our rejection of continuing this approach that has inflicted and continues to inflict harm on our people and our national cause," Hamas said in a statement.
"Making individual decisions and engaging in superficial and empty steps such as forming a new government without national consensus only reinforces a policy of unilateralism and deepens division.
“These steps indicate the depth of the crisis within the leadership of the Authority, its detachment from reality, and the significant gap between it and our people, their concerns, and aspirations, as confirmed by the opinions of the vast majority of our people who have expressed a loss of confidence in these policies and orientations.”
At a time of war with Israel, Palestinians needed a unified leadership preparing for free democratic elections involving all components of their society, it added.
“The utmost national priority now is to confront the barbaric Zionist aggression and the war of extermination and starvation waged by the occupation against our people in the Gaza Strip, and to confront the crimes of its settlers in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the grave dangers facing our national cause, foremost among them the ongoing threat of displacement,” Hamas affirmed in the statement.
The war began with an attack by Hamas terrorists from Gaza who killed 1,200 people and seized 253 hostages in Israel on Oct. 7.
“It is our people's right to question the usefulness of replacing one government with another, and one prime minister with another, from the same political and party environment,” the group wrote.
Hamas expelled the Palestinian Authority from the Gaza Strip in 2007 after a failed coalition and the terror group has ruled the enclave since.
“Given the Palestinian Authority's insistence on continuing its policy of unilateralism and disregarding all national efforts to reunify the Palestinian ranks and unify in confronting aggression against our people, we express our rejection of the continuation of this approach, which has harmed and continues to harm our people and our national cause,” the statement insisted. “We call on our people and their active forces to raise their voices loudly and confront this absurdity with the present and future of our cause, our people's interests, and their national rights. We also call on all national forces and factions, especially our brothers in Fatah movement, to take serious and effective action to reach consensus on managing this historical and pivotal stage, in a manner that serves our national cause and fulfills the aspirations of our people to reclaim their legitimate rights, liberate their land and sanctities, and establish their independent state with full sovereignty and its capital in Jerusalem.”
Foreign demands
As president, Abbas remains by far the most powerful figure in the Palestinian Authority, but the appointment of a new government showed willingness to meet international demands for change in the administration.
Mustafa, who helped organize the reconstruction of Gaza following a previous conflict, was assigned to lead the relief and rebuilding of the area, which has been shattered by more than five months of war, and reform Palestinian Authority institutions, according to the designation letter.
He replaces former Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh who, along with his government, resigned in February.
Arab and international efforts have so far failed to reconcile Hamas and Fatah, which makes the backbone of the PA, since the Hamas 2007 take over of Gaza, a move that reduced Abbas's authority to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Palestinians want both territories as the core of a future independent state.
Hamas said any attempt to exclude it from the political scene after the war was "delusional."
In a recent warning, a security official told a Hamas-linked news website that attempts by clans or community leaders to cooperate with Israel's plans to administer Gaza would be seen as "treason" and met with an "iron fist."
But the group denied media reports it killed some local clan leaders in recent days for meddling with aid distribution.