US efforts to install a post-Hamas administration in Gaza are in danger of unravelling as obstruction by Israel threatens to collapse the nascent Palestinian committee before it even enters the devastated territory.
At least four of the 12 members appointed to the self-styled Board of Peace's Gaza committee have offered their resignation in protest at Israel's refusal to allow it to take power in the strip, The National reports, citing sources familiar with the matter. Nickolay Mladenov , the Bulgarian diplomat acting as the board's chief representative in Gaza, refused their departure and told them to stay on, the sources said, declining to name the members involved.
The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza is composed of independent Palestinian technocrats and civil society leaders and was supposed to take over the day-to-day governance of the territory soon after its formation in January.
But Israeli authorities have blocked them from crossing the border, leaving them stranded in Cairo and unable to replace Hamas as Gaza's governing authority.
"Many of the committee members are losing hope in ever entering Gaza and beginning work," one of the sources told the Emirati newspaper.
"They, like other Palestinians, feel they're the legitimate owners of the land of Gaza yet they are treated like no more than employees, without authority or clear brief."
The committee was set up in January by Donald Trump's 'Board of Peace', an organisation created to carry out the US president's peace plan for Gaza and oversee the territory's reconstruction.
It came several months after the US, together with Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, brokered an indefinite ceasefire that was supposed to see Israel open the Rafah border crossing.
But Israel has continued to enforce heavy border restrictions and block the NCAG from assuming power even after Hamas agreed to step down .
Sources say that Israel is now conditioning their entry on Hamas's disarmament, a shifting of the goalposts that has kept the Palestinian group in full control of the parts of Gaza not occupied by Israeli forces.
The first phase of the October ceasefire saw Hamas free the remaining Israeli captives in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and an easing of Israel's suffocating blockade.
The agreement was supposed to produce a full ceasefire but has instead only reduced the intensity of Israeli attacks, which have killed and injured more than 3,000 people in the six months since it came into effect.
It has left Israel in control of more than half of Gaza behind the so-called 'Yellow Line', with Hamas governing the coastal side of the strip.
Mediators envision a second phase including a permanent end to the war, Gaza's reconstruction, Hamas's disarmament, and Israel's withdrawal from the territory.
Long-running negotiations with Hamas over its disarmament are yet to bear fruit, with the organisation refusing to surrender its arms while Israel continues to occupy Gaza.
Mladenov said this week that he was "fairly optimistic" that an agreement will be found, but admitted it will take time.
"We've had some very serious discussions with Hamas over the last few weeks, they're not easy," the diplomat told Reuters .
Hamas's armed wing on Sunday ruled out disarmament until it has guarantees that Israeli forces will withdraw from the strip.
The Trump peace plan envisions an Israeli withdrawal occurring as Hamas hands over its weapons.