Members of a Palestinian committee that will take over running Gaza's day-to-day affairs from Hamas have completed intensive training in Egypt and hope to cross into the enclave on February 1 to begin work.
Sources told The National on Saturday that in the past two weeks, members of the committee have been trained on their portfolios, including economy and finance, security, health and education, reconstruction and Awqaf, or religious endowments.
"They have been familiarised with theories and practices of reconstruction, infrastructure and building up institutions because there is nothing really left standing in Gaza," said one sources.
"The training also included data collecting and analysis, as well as tactics for avoiding disputes with Palestinian military factions."
The training, said the sources, has coincided with the creation of an ad hoc body that brings together representatives of Palestinian factions to hammer out a plan to hand over the reins of government to the committee, formally known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.
The sources said the committee members concluded their training, mostly carried out at institutions affiliated with the Egyptian military, on Wednesday and had been scheduled to cross into Gaza on Thursday - but Israel did not approve.
Their entry into Gaza on February 1 is far from certain, they said, citing obstacles placed by Israel. They did not disclose the nature of the hurdles, but said Egyptian officials were in contact with their US counterparts in Washington on the matter.
The Palestinian side of the crossing has been under Israeli army control since May 2024. Egypt, according to the sources, wants the Palestinian side to be overseen by EU representatives and run by officials from the western-backed Palestinian Authority as prescribed by a 2005 accord.
However, said the sources, Israel is insisting on operating what amounts to a "parallel" crossing, complete with security screening and checks of baggage and travellers.
Israel has said it will open Gaza's Rafah border on Sunday, but only for "limited movement" of people approved by authorities, suggesting that aid lorries will continue to be blocked.
The opening of the Rafah crossing is part of the first phase of US President Donald Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan, which also called for aid to enter “without interference”.
That stage involved a ceasefire in October that paused the two-year-old war, the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas and hundreds of Palestinians incarcerated in Israel, which withdrew its troops behind a "yellow line" that left it in control of about 53 per cent of Gaza.
The sources said Israel wanted human traffic through the Rafah crossing to have a ratio of 50 entries for every 200 departures. Those entering Gaza must be residents who had left after the outbreak of the war in October 2023, according to the sources.
Officials in Gaza say about 20,000 people are waiting to leave the territory for medical treatment abroad.
The start of the UN-sanctioned committee's work in Gaza is part of the second phase of Mr Trump's plan, which also includes the disarming of Hamas and the deployment of an International Stabilisation Force to maintain security in the strip.
A Board of Peace chaired by Mr Trump that will oversee the governance and reconstruction of Gaza is also part of the plan.
The Gaza war was sparked by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 that killed 1,200 people. Israel's response was a relentless military campaign that has killed more than 71,000 and wounded more than twice that number.
Israel's conduct in the war has drawn accusations of genocide, war crimes and starving Gaza's estimated population of two million. Israel rejects the accusations.
