CAIRO – The Palestinian committee set to govern Gaza under U.S. supervision met for the first time Friday in Cairo, as its leader pledged to get to work quickly to improve conditions there.
Ali Shaath, an engineer and former Palestinian Authority official from Gaza, expects reconstruction and recovery to take about three years. He plans to focus first on immediate needs, including shelter.
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“The Palestinian people were looking forward to this committee, its establishment and its work to rescue them,” Shaath said after the meeting, in a television interview with Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News.
U.S. President Donald Trump supports the group's efforts to lead Gaza after the two-year war between Israel and Hamas. Israeli troops withdrew from parts of Gaza after the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, and are now behind the so-called Yellow Line, while thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to what is left of their homes.
“I am backing a newly appointed Palestinian Technocratic Committee, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, supported by the Board’s High Representative, to govern Gaza during its transition,” Trump said Thursday in a social media post.
The committee will run day-to-day affairs in Gaza, under the oversight of a Trump-led “Board of Peace,” whose members have not yet been named.
Death of boy mourned in the West Bank
In the West Bank, friends and relatives gathered Friday to mourn the death of a 14-year-old Palestinian boy killed by Israeli forces.
The Palestinian Health Ministry, which confirmed his death, said Mohammad Na’san was the first child killed by the army in the occupied West Bank in 2026.
Residents said Israeli forces fired stun grenades and tear gas in an unprovoked attack. Israel’s military said in a statement that the incursion came after Palestinians had hurled rocks at Israelis and set tires aflame.
“There was gunfire directed at citizens and farmers, the most dangerous of which occurred during the storming of the village as people were leaving the mosques. The streets were crowded with the elderly, children, women, and elders, and they began firing relentlessly,” said Ameen Abu Aliya, head of the Al-Mughayyir village council.
The death was the latest episode of violence to hit al-Mughayyir, a village east of Ramallah that has become a flashpoint in the West Bank. Much of the community’s agricultural land falls under Israeli military control.
Earlier this year, settlers and Israeli military bulldozers destroyed olive groves in the area, saying they were searching for Palestinian gunmen. A children’s park in al-Mughayyir was also demolished.
In 2025, 240 Palestinians — including 55 children — were killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank, while Palestinians killed 17 Israelis — including one child — in the region, according to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, two children were killed Friday in Gaza, a 7-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy. They were killed in Beith Lahiya, near the Yellow Line, and their bodies taken to al-Shifa Hospital, the hospital said. No further details were immediately available.
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Associated Press reporters Jalal Bwaitel and Imed Isseid contributed to this report from Ramallah and Wafaa Shurafa from Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip.