Several Palestinian factions are set to discuss Gaza's future at a meeting in Egypt on Saturday, where the possibility of a role for Mohammed Dahlan, a rival of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, is likely to come up, sources told AFP .
Another meeting between representatives of mediators of the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas is planned for Sunday, according to a Palestinian political source, who said Nikolai Mladenov, high representative for Gaza in US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, was also expected to attend.
The source said Dahlan was trying to convince Hamas to transfer responsibilities in the Gaza Strip to him to facilitate the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement and the entry of a previously appointed technocratic committee tasked with administering the territory temporarily.
A diplomatic source confirmed the information.
Dahlan, a former head of Gaza's preventive security force for Abbas's Fatah party and originally from the south of the territory, has reportedly presented a plan for the Strip, according to the source.
Dahlan was banned from Fatah in 2011 and is based in the United Arab Emirates, maintaining influential networks in several Arab and Western countries.
The Cairo meetings, which are expected to include representatives from Hamas and other Palestinian groups, but not Fatah, were initially due to take place on Wednesday in the Egyptian resort of El Alamein, but were postponed.
The question of Gaza's post-war governance remains one of the main sticking points in negotiations on implementing the provisions of phase two of the truce. 'Find a new formula' Israel rejects any return of Hamas to power, but also rejects a direct takeover by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority at this stage.
Hamas, meanwhile, demands the establishment of a Palestinian administration before considering handing over part of its arsenal, a key stipulation for the second phase, along with Israel's withdrawal.
Dahlan and Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya have maintained contacts for several years and have explored avenues of cooperation on Gaza's future, a diplomatic source told AFP .
"They're not meeting for a picture... (Dahlan) offered to try to find a way out for Gaza, where the international community is stuck," the source said.
Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist from the territory, said Egypt was acting with renewed urgency out of fear that Israel "will seek to sabotage" the US-backed ceasefire plan.
"Cairo believes there is an urgent need to put an end to the deterioration of daily life for Palestinians in Gaza," Abusada said. Egypt and other mediating countries want to bring together Palestinian political movements to "find a new formula so that Hamas accepts disarmament and to avoid further Israeli destruction".
Dahlan's name regularly comes up in post-war talks on Gaza, particularly due to his proximity to Egyptian and Emirati authorities and his presumed ability to mobilise funding for reconstruction.
This scenario has so far been met with mistrust by many Palestinians, who see it as an attempt to impose an alternative leadership with the backing of foreign powers.