On 31 July, widespread protests erupted across the occupied West Bank following the assassination of senior Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in an airstrike in northern Tehran, an act reportedly attributed to Israel. Demonstrations were held in major cities, including Ramallah, Hebron, and Nablus, where Palestinians, waving Hamas flags, expressed their outrage over the killing. These protests occurred amid a general strike and broader calls for demonstrations organized by various Palestinian factions. In response to Haniyeh's death, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared a day of public mourning and urged unity among Palestinians. The protests came shortly after Hamas, Fatah, and other factions signed a "national unity" declaration in Beijing on 22 July, which aimed to establish an interim national unity government to govern post-war Gaza. Israel has neither claimed responsibility nor denied involvement in Haniyeh's assassination, who had been residing outside Gaza since 2019. Widespread rallies in support of Hamas across the Fatah-dominated West Bank are unusual, indicating a shift towards increased public expressions of popular support for the faction.

Sources: Al Jazeera (1), The New Arab, Asharq Al-Awsat, Al Jazeera (2), WAFA, PLO, The Times of Israel

On 22 July, Hamas and Fatah, the two main Palestinian factions, signed a "national unity" declaration in Beijing, brokered by China after three days of negotiations. This agreement, supported by 14 Palestinian factions, aims to form an "interim national reconciliation government" after the end of the war in Gaza, though no timeline was provided. The UN welcomed the declaration as a step toward Palestinian unity. The Hamas-Fatah rift began after Hamas's 2006 electoral victory, leading to two parallel governments and preventing national elections. The latest effort by the parties to reconcile by forming a "unity government" in 2014 failed. While the new agreement may improve the chances of future elections, its successful implementation remains uncertain, especially given Israel's opposition to Hamas's role in Gaza governance.

Sources: Palestine News Network, Al Jazeera, Reuters, United Nations, Haaretz

On 25 May, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan filed requests for arrest warrants against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The next step is for the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber I to review the applications and determine if there are ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ that these individuals have committed a crime under the Court's jurisdiction, and whether to issue the arrest warrants. A report by international law experts, convened by the ICC Prosecutor in January 2024, confirmed on 20 May that the gathered evidence was sufficient to meet the criteria for applying for the arrest warrants. PM Netanyahu called the ICC Prosecutor’s announcement ‘absurd’. Israel previously stated that it does not recognize the Court's authority and will not cooperate with the inquiry. Meanwhile, Hamas has called on the ICC to withdraw the arrest warrant requests for its leaders.

Sources: International Criminal Court, ICC Panel of Experts in International Law (1), ICC Panel of Experts in International Law (2), Diakonia, Middle East Eye, ABC, Associated Press

On 28 March, Palestinian President and chairman of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas, announced the formation of the new Palestinian Authority (PA) government in a presidential decree. The PA exercises civil control over parts of the West Bank but not Gaza. These appointments followed the dissolution of the previous government in late February, after former Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and his cabinet resigned amid growing political infighting and strained relationships with international actors. In the decree, Abbas appointed as the new Prime Minister his longtime adviser Mohammad Mustafa, who a decade ago led the reconstruction in Gaza after a previous Israel-Hamas war. This appointment, and the inclusion in the government of five ministers from Gaza, is notable at a time when the PA is aiming to extend its governance to Gaza after the ongoing war. Abbas’s reappointment of ministers from the previous governments, however suggests a degree of continuity. Resigning ministers were reappointed to other positions within PA bodies, with former PM Shtayyeh taking on a new role as Director of the National Research Centre. Only four women were appointed to the 23-members Cabinet. Elections were last held in Gaza and the West Bank in 2006.   

Sources: International IDEA, Reuters, WAFA, Quds Press, PRC

On 26 March, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, presented a report to the UN Human Rights Council, which concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Referring to the Genocide Convention, Ms Albanese explained that ‘Israel has committed three acts of genocide with the requisite intent [to destroy Palestinians as a group]:  causing seriously [sic] serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent birth [sic] within the group.’ Israel rejected the report, calling it ‘an obscene inversion of reality.’ Separately, on 28 March, in response to a further deterioration of living conditions in Gaza (it observed that ‘famine is setting in’), the UN’s International Court of Justice ordered Israel to implement new humanitarian measures, as part of a case in which it is considering whether the country has violated the Genocide Convention.

Sources: United Nations (1), United Nations (2), International Court of Justice