In recent days, a type of notice not seen there for decades has begun appearing plastered on exterior walls in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah: posters explaining how to vote in upcoming municipal elections.

Home to some 75,000 people before the war, residents of Deir al-Balah, like all other Gazan cities, have not been able to vote for their own local representatives since Hamas took over the Strip in 2007. Throughout its decades of controlling the enclave, Hamas has appointed city council members, repeatedly preventing municipal elections from being held alongside those that have continued in Palestinian Authority areas in the West Bank.

Among those appointed to city leadership have been figures accused by Israel of engaging in terror activity, including former mayor Imad Jarou. Israel said in December 2024 that it had killed Jarou, calling him an active member of the group’s military wing. Following his killing, Hamas appointed the current mayor, Nizar Ayyash.

Now, with Hamas’s rule weakened by years of war, the PA’s Central Election Committee has launched a bid to hold open elections in the city on April 25, alongside elections set to be held in cities across the West Bank.

Hamas still exercises de facto control over the Strip, and it remains unclear to what extent the results will be honored. And though the Strip’s governance is set to transition to a technocratic committee under the US-led ceasefire plan, developments in Deir al-Balah are still largely an anomaly in an enclave where nearly all municipal officials are still being appointed by Hamas.

Nonetheless, a source close to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, told The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity that the move is a significant step toward signaling its vision of a future Palestinian polity.

“It confirms that the West Bank and Gaza are one legal and political unit,” the source said.

The PA insisted on holding elections in Gaza at this time, even if only in one area, in order to present “at least a symbolic picture” of unity between Gaza and the West Bank, he added.

Farid Taamallah, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Central Elections Commission, said in an interview with a local Palestinian radio station that elections could not be held across the entire Gaza Strip due to the widespread destruction caused by the war.

According to him, Deir al-Balah was chosen because it is one of the five largest cities in the Strip and has been less heavily damaged than cities such as Rafah and Khan Younis.

Hamas warned against thwarting vote

Though it has not held national elections since 2006, the PA, which is dominated by Hamas-rival Fatah, has held municipal elections on a number of occasions.

The first such vote took place in 2005, marking the only time local elections were held simultaneously in the West Bank and Gaza, which was still controlled by the PA at the time.

After Hamas seized power in Gaza via a bloody 2007 coup, the PA continued to push for local elections to take place in the Strip. Hamas, which had installed its own municipal leaders after taking over, publicly refused to allow them unless they were held alongside elections for the Palestinian parliament........

© The Times of Israel