Middle East crisis: At least 20 killed in attack as they waited for aid, Gaza officials say

The document that Mr. Abbas presented to Mr. Mustafa says that the government’s priorities should include leading efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, reconstructing what was destroyed during the war between Israel and Hamas , and developing plans and mechanisms to reunite the people of Gaza. Palestinian governance structures in the West Bank and the coastal enclave.

It also called for “continuing the reform process.”

Much of the Palestinian public views the Palestinian Authority as tainted by corruption, mismanagement and collaboration with Israel.

As president, Mr Abbas remains firmly responsible for the government. In the absence of a functional parliament, Mr Abbas has ruled by decree for a long time, and he exerts great influence over the judiciary and legal system. There have been no presidential elections in the Palestinian territories since 2005, and no parliamentary elections since 2006.

At the end of February, Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh submitted the resignation of his cabinet, citing the need for a new government that “takes into account the emerging reality in the Gaza Strip.” Mr Shtayyeh’s government has continued as an interim government.

Hamas led a deadly attack from Gaza on Israel on October 7, and Israel has responded with heavy bombing and an invasion, vowing to break the group’s hold on the enclave. But these events have raised difficult questions about how a post-war Gaza will be governed and rebuilt.

The Palestinian Authority has limited administrative powers in the West Bank. In 2007, the country lost control of Gaza to Hamas during a power struggle.

The United States has called for a review the widely unpopular Palestinian Authority in recent months, in the hope that it could eventually take over the reins of governance in Gaza after the war. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected such a role for the authority.

While the Biden administration did not tell Mr. Abbas who to appoint as prime minister, it signaled that it hoped for an independent figure acceptable to ordinary Palestinians, the international community and Israel, according to Western diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement that the Biden administration welcomed the appointment and urged “the formation of a reform cabinet as soon as possible.”

In the Palestinian Authority, the prime minister is supposed to oversee the work of the ministries, but Mr. Abbas often intervenes in decision-making, according to analysts.

Nasser al-Qudwa, a former foreign minister whose name had been mooted as a possible prime minister, said before announcing Mr. Abbas’s choice that Mr. Mustafa’s appointment would represent “no real change.”

“It would replace an employee named Muhammad with another employee named Muhammad, while Abbas continues to hold all the cards. What is the change?” said Mr. Qudwa, a fierce opponent of Mr. Abbas who is also known as Abu Mazen. “Abu Mazen wants to maintain the status quo. He wants to keep all power in his own hands.”

In addition to serving as an adviser to Mr. Abbas, Mr. Mustafa, an economist trained at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., has been chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund, whose board is appointed by the authority’s president. He previously served as Minister of Economy and Deputy Prime Minister of the authority.

For weeks, Mr. Abbas has signaled his desire to appoint Mr. Mustafa. In January, he sent Mr Mustafa to the World Economic Forum’s annual conference in Davos, where heads of state and foreign ministers meet to discuss global affairs.

At the conference, Mr Mustafa said he thought the Palestinian Authority could improve its governance. “We don’t want to make excuses for anyone,” he said in an extensive conversation with Borge Brende, the forum’s chairman. “The Palestinian Authority can do better when it comes to building better institutions.”

In his new role, Mr Mustafa is likely to face enormous challenges, including potentially trying to reconstruct the devastated Gaza Strip and improve the government’s credibility.

However, some analysts said judgment on a new government should be reserved until the public knows the identity of its ministers and how much authority and independence they can exercise.

“We should not be hasty in saying it will fail,” said Ibrahim Dalalsha, director of the Horizon Center for Political Studies and Media Outreach, a political analysis group based in Ramallah, West Bank. “We have to wait and see how it will perform.”