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The move comes amid growing U.S. pressure on President Mahmoud
Abbas to shake up the Palestinian Authority as international
efforts have intensified to stop the fighting in Gaza and begin
work on a political structure to govern the enclave after the
war.
His resignation must still be accepted by Abbas, who may ask him
to stay on as caretaker until a permanent replacement is
appointed.
In a statement to cabinet, Shtayyeh, an academic economist who
took office in 2019, said the next stage would need to take
account of the emerging reality in Gaza, which has been laid
waste by nearly five months of heavy fighting.
He said the next stage would "require new governmental and
political arrangements that take into account the emerging
reality in the Gaza Strip, the national unity talks, and the
urgent need for an inter-Palestinian consensus".
In addition, it would require "the extension of the Authority's
authority over the entire land, Palestine".
The Palestinian Authority, formed 30 years ago under the interim
Oslo peace accords, exercises limited governance over parts of
the occupied West Bank but lost power in Gaza following a
struggle with Hamas in 2007.
Fatah, the faction that controls the PA, and Hamas have made
efforts to reach an agreement over a unity government and are
due to meet in Moscow on Wednesday. A senior Hamas official said
the move had to be followed by a broader agreement on governance
for the Palestinians.
"The resignation of Shtayyeh's government only makes sense if it
comes within the context of national consensus on arrangements
for the next phase," senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told
Reuters.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and says that for security
reasons, it will not accept Palestinian Authority rule over Gaza
after the war, which broke out following a Hamas-led attack on
southern Israel on Oct. 7, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and
foreigners, according to Israeli tallies.
So far, almost 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza
fighting, according to Palestinian health authorities, and
almost the entire population has been driven from their homes.
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in
Cairo; writing by James MackenzieEditing by Gareth Jones and
Philippa Fletcher)
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