Global & US Headlines
Hamas Orders Gaza Power Handover Ahead of Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ Roll-Out
On 11 Jan 2026 Hamas formally told its Gaza ministries to ready a transfer of all authority to a non-partisan Palestinian technocratic committee envisioned in the U.S.–brokered cease-fire, paving the way for the next phase of the deal.
Focusing Facts
- Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem’s 11 Jan 2026 video directive instructs every Gaza government agency to prepare for an authority hand-off to the yet-unnamed 8-to-12-member technocrat body.
- Israeli PM Netanyahu announced on 8 Jan 2026 that ex-UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov will serve as director-general of Trump’s international ‘Board of Peace’ charged with supervising the transition.
- Mediator Bishara Bahbah said the Board’s inaugural meeting is slated for the World Economic Forum in Davos during the third week of Jan 2026.
Context
Power handovers enforced by outside actors have checkered precedents: the 1982 PLO pull-out from Beirut to Tunis created a shadow leadership that resurfaced years later, and the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza left an administrative vacuum quickly filled by Hamas. Like the Allied occupation councils in post-1945 Germany or UNMIK in Kosovo (1999), the proposed ‘Board of Peace’ reflects the century-long trend of internationalized governance in contested zones. Yet the scheme also collides with another trend—the resilience of armed non-state actors who surrender bureaucracy but keep their guns, as seen with Hizbullah in Lebanon after the 1990 Taif Accord. Whether this moment matters in 2126 depends on two uncertainties: will Hamas actually disarm, and will outside guarantors sustain the costly stabilization long enough to root new institutions? If both falter, the handover will be a footnote; if they hold, it could mark the rare transition where a militant group exits power without open defeat, subtly reshaping the 100-year arc of Palestinian self-rule and regional intervention norms.
Perspectives
Israeli right-leaning media
Israeli right-leaning media — Depicts Hamas’s promise to dissolve its Gaza government as a cynical façade and insists that only Hamas’s total, irreversible destruction can secure peace. The coverage echoes hard-line Israeli government talking points, uses charged language like “terror” and “annihilation,” and discounts any diplomatic mechanism that might limit Israel’s military freedom of action.
Pro-Palestinian or Arab regional media
Pro-Palestinian or Arab regional media — Highlights slow progress on the U.S.-brokered peace board while accusing Israel of breaching the ceasefire, starving aid routes and obstructing Gaza’s reconstruction. By foregrounding Israeli violations and largely sidestepping Hamas’s refusal to disarm, it mirrors regional sympathies and frames the U.S. plan as cover for continued Israeli aggression.
Mainstream international news outlets
Mainstream international news outlets — Report the planned technocratic takeover and Nickolay Mladenov’s appointment as tentative but important steps toward Phase Two of Trump’s ceasefire deal, while noting ongoing violations by both sides. Their event-driven, diplomatic focus can overstate momentum and reflect dependence on official U.S. and Israeli sources, risking understatement of on-the-ground humanitarian realities.