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Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh handed in the resignation of his entire government to the group’s President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday, as the U.S. and other allies attempt to plan for an end to the brutal conflict between Israel and Hamas currently raging in the Gaza Strip.
Shtayyeh, whose government oversees parts of the occupied West Bank, cited the mounting violence in the Palestinian territories as the reason for his resignation. He also signaled steps the Palestinian Authority could take toward governing a potential Palestinian state in the wake of the current conflict, which began when the militant group Hamas launched a bloody attack into Israel last October.
“The decision to resign came in light of the unprecedented escalation in the West Bank and Jerusalem and the war, genocide and starvation in the Gaza Strip,” Shtayyeh said. “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 and the extension of unity of authority over the land of Palestine.”