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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah

Photo: Thaer Ganaim/dpa

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has confirmed the government of the new Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa by decree. Mustafa said on Thursday that the new cabinet's "top national priority" was to end the war in the Gaza Strip. His government based in the West Bank will "work on formulating visions for the reunification of institutions, including assuming responsibility for the Gaza Strip."

The Palestinian Authority rules the Israeli-occupied West Bank but has limited power. In the Gaza Strip, the Islamist Hamas took sole control in 2007 and ousted Abbas's rival Fatah party. The US government wants the Palestinian Authority to take back control of the Gaza Strip.

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The now confirmed, 19th Palestinian government will be sworn in on Sunday, according to the state news agency Wafa.

Abbas appointed his long-time economic advisor Mustafa as the new prime minister in mid-March. The appointment came almost three weeks after the previous government under Prime Minister Mohammed Shtajjeh resigned. The Palestinian president is under international pressure to reform his authority's institutions - and to make preparations for the period after the end of the Gaza war.

The new Prime Minister Mustafa took office in the midst of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The war was triggered by the major attack on Israel on October 7th by Hamas, which the EU and the USA classified as a terrorist organization. Islamist fighters committed atrocities mainly against civilians; according to Israeli figures, around 1,160 people were killed and around 250 hostages were kidnapped into the Gaza Strip.

In response to the Hamas attack, Israel has since taken massive military action in the Gaza Strip, with the declared aim of destroying Hamas. According to Hamas figures, which cannot be independently verified, more than 32,300 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since then.

mfh/AFP