International News
Palestinian PM Resigns Citing ‘New Reality’ Of Gaza War
Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh announced Monday the resignation of his government, which rules parts of the Israeli occupied West Bank, citing the need for change after the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza ends.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh announces his government’s resignation and calls for “new political measures” in Ramallah on February 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Shtayyeh submitted the resignation to the leader of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, president Mahmud Abbas, 88, whose office later said he accepted it.
The United States and other powers have called for a reformed Palestinian Authority to take charge of all Palestinian territories after the end of the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Shtayyeh cited “developments related to the aggression against the Gaza Strip and the escalation in the West Bank and Jerusalem”, which have also been torn by deadly violence during the war.
He said he had first offered Abbas the resignation last Tuesday, but was formally submitting it “in writing” on Monday.
Shtayyeh, 66, said in brief comments that “the next stage and its challenges require new governmental and political measures that take into account the new reality in the Gaza Strip”.
He called for intra-Palestinian consensus and the “extension of the Authority’s rule over the entire land of Palestine”.
Abbas issued a decree accepting the resignation and assigned Shtayyeh’s government to continue “temporarily until a new government is formed,” a statement from the presidency said.
Israel has ruled out any future political role for the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza, but has suggested that local Palestinian officials could play a role.
Abbas, 88 is widely unpopular in the West Bank and has faced mounting anger since the Gaza war began on October 7. Many criticise him for failing to more severely condemn the Israeli offensive there as well as the rising violence in the West Bank.
‘One man show’
Khalil Shikaki from the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, a think tank, said Abbas had failed to protect his own people.
“Now he wants to be present for the day after, but he didn’t do anything during the war,” Shikaki said.
“Most Palestinians are harsher than I am. Abbas is going to have a government that is loyal to him. He is a one man show.”
On the streets of Ramallah, Palestinians sounded doubtful about the government change.
Basil Farraj said the Palestinian Authority “did not achieve real results due to corruption, lack of security, and suppression of freedom and suppression of resistance.”
Whether the government changes or not, “it is appointed by American and occupation decisions,” another resident, Rula Abu Daho, said in a reference to Israel.
Since 2007, the Palestinian leadership has been divided between the Palestinian Authority of Abbas, which exercises limited power in the West Bank, and Hamas which rules the coastal Gaza Strip.
The Gaza war broke out after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
The retaliatory Israeli military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 29,782 people, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
During the war, violence in the West Bank has flared to levels unseen in nearly two decades.
Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 400 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Gaza war began, according to the health ministry in Ramallah.
Palestinian media reports suggested Abbas might name Mohammed Mustafa, an executive committee member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation — dominated by the ruling Fatah movement — to head the new cabinet.
‘New phase’
Mustafa has previously served as deputy prime minister and as a senior adviser to Abbas on economic affairs.
International mediators are in talks for a ceasefire in Gaza, with Israel’s top ally Washington also discussing how a post-war Gaza could be ruled.
Palestinian analyst Ghassan Khatib, a former cabinet minister, said the resignation was Abbas’s way of showing he is flexible and ready for a government of technocrats “functioning in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after the war”.
“If Abbas and Hamas are able to reach an agreement, it would be a new phase in our internal political scene and a significant one,” Khatib told AFP.
Shtayyeh defended his record and said his government had managed to do its work despite major challenges.
“The government was able to achieve a balance between meeting the needs of our people and providing services like infrastructure,” said Shtayyeh, whose cabinet took office in 2019.
“We will continue to struggle to establish a state on the lands of Palestine,” he said.
AFP
German authorities deported at least 137 Nigerian citizens across five chartered flights between February and June 2026, according to migration monitoring reports.
Data from the DERS Team and Refugees4refugees.org shows the deportations occurred in phases, with 27 Nigerians returned in February, 37 in March through a joint European Union operation, 24 in April, 23 in May, and 26 in June.
The February operation departed from Stuttgart and landed at Lagos Cargo Airport, with Baden-Württemberg listed as a primary participant. The March operation represented the largest single return of Nigerians recorded over three years and was executed in collaboration with Spain, Austria, and Belgium.
The reports indicate a growing reliance on multi-national chartered flights by European states to repatriate undocumented or non-resident individuals to Nigeria.
The United States has condemned the killing of members of the family of Plateau-based cleric, Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, describing the attack as horrific and urging Nigerian authorities to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.
In a statement shared on X on Thursday, the US Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs expressed condolences to the victims’ families and called for stronger measures to prevent further attacks on vulnerable communities across Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
“The United States strongly condemns the horrific killing of members of Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo’s family in Plateau State, Nigeria. The continued violence targeting Christian communities and other vulnerable populations in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is deeply alarming,” the bureau said
The US said it had already engaged Nigerian officials on the worsening security situation, stressing that urgent action was needed to curb recurring attacks and hold perpetrators accountable.
“As I discussed last week with Nigerian officials, we must do more to prevent violent acts. The perpetrators must be held accountable, and urgent action is needed to strengthen security and protect Christians and other vulnerable communities,” the statement added.
The bureau reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to working with the Nigerian government to combat terrorism and violent extremism, stressing that Christians and other Nigerians should be able to practise their faith without fear of violence.
The statement followed the July 12 attack on Kum community in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State, where nine members of Rev. Dachomo’s extended family, including a two-month-old baby, were killed.
According to the cleric, the attackers, believed to be armed Fulani militias, asked for him by name before opening fire on his relatives.
Dachomo, who serves as Regional Chairman of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, said his family had repeatedly been targeted because of his outspoken criticism of the violence in Plateau State.
He recalled that his grandmother and an uncle were also killed in previous attacks, adding that days after burying his relatives, he received a written death threat from the same group, warning that he would be their next target.
Saudi Arabia has updated its tourist eVisa programme for 2026, limiting eligibility in Africa to only three countries as part of its list of 66 nations whose citizens can apply through the Kingdom’s online visa platform.
The move leaves most African countries, including Nigeria, outside the simplified entry scheme.
The electronic visa allows eligible travellers to visit Saudi Arabia for tourism, leisure activities, family visits and Umrah, excluding the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Applications are completed online, eliminating the need for embassy visits and lengthy visa processing.
Saudi authorities said the eVisa forms part of ongoing efforts to expand tourism, attract international visitors and simplify travel procedures through a fully digital application system. The visa is available only to citizens of approved countries and territories listed on the Kingdom’s official tourism portal.
Below is the list of African countries eligible for Saudi Arabia’s eVisa.
1. Mauritius
2. Seychelles
3. South Africa
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