Announcing his resignation, Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said he was moved to step down due to the “unprecedented escalation” in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, and the “war, genocide and starvation in the Gaza Strip”….reports Asian Lite News
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Monday announced the resignation of his government.
“I would like to inform the honourable council and our great people that I placed the government’s resignation at the disposal of Mr. President [Mahmoud Abbas], last Tuesday, and today I submit it in writing,” Shtayyeh said in a post on Facebook as per CNN.
Al Jazeera cited a Reuters report to state that Shatayyh handed over his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas.
Shtayyeh, who has headed the Palestinian Authority’s 18th government since his appointment in March 2019, submitted his resignation at the opening of today’s government meeting in Ramallah.
Announcing his resignation, Shtayyeh said he was moved to step down due to the “unprecedented escalation” in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, and the “war, genocide and starvation in the Gaza Strip”.
Shtayyeh noted there are “efforts to make the [Palestinian Authority] an administrative and security authority without political influence, and the PA will continue to struggle to embody the state on the land of Palestine despite the occupation”.
“I see that the next stage and its challenges require new governmental and political arrangements that take into account the new reality in Gaza and the need for a Palestinian-Palestinian consensus based on Palestinian unity,” he added as per Al Jazeera.
UN wants strengthened Palestinian govt
The United Nations (UN) wants to see a strengthened and empowered Palestinian government, a spokesman of the world body has said in response to the resignation of the government led by Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres takes note of Monday’s announcement by Shtayyeh that he handed his government’s resignation to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN chief.
“A strengthened, empowered Palestinian government that can administer the whole of the occupied Palestinian territory is critical as part of a path to achieving the establishment of a fully independent, democratic, contiguous, sovereign and viable Palestinian state, on the basis of the 1967 lines, of which Gaza is an integral part, which remains the only way to achieve a lasting peace,” the spokesman was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
The UN stands ready to continue supporting efforts aimed at overcoming the humanitarian, political, financial as well as security challenges facing the Palestinian people, he told a daily press briefing.
Turning to the situation on the ground, the spokesman said the Palestine Red Crescent Society, supported by the World Health Organization and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), has completed the evacuation of 72 critical patients from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
The UN Population Fund reports that newborns are dying in Gaza because their mothers are unable to attend prenatal or postnatal checkups while the incessant bombings, fleeing for safety and anxiety are leading to premature births, said the spokesman.
In its daily update on the situation in Gaza, OCHA said intense Israeli bombardment from air, land and sea continued to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip on Monday, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction of civilian infrastructure.
Ground operations and heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups also continued. Between Friday and Monday, tens of rockets were reportedly fired by armed Palestinian groups toward Israel, said OCHA.
Since October 7, 2023, at least 29,782 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and 70,043 Palestinians have been injured, OCHA quoted the Ministry of Health in Gaza as saying.
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