Mohammed Mustafa, a dependable advisor on economic matters, has been named prime minister by Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, the official Wafa news agency announced on Thursday.
Less than three weeks have passed since Mustafa’s appointment. His predecessor, Mohammed Shtayyeh, resigned, citing the need for change following the October 7 Hamas strike that sparked an Israeli-Gaza conflict.
Now, the 69-year-old must organize a new administration for the Palestinian Authority, which is confined to a small area of the West Bank that is under Israeli occupation.
Mustafa is an independent executive committee member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which is controlled by the Fatah organization. He attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
In addition to holding a board seat on the Palestine Investment Fund and holding several top posts at the World Bank, he has held the roles of deputy prime minister for economic affairs.
Additionally, he has provided advice to the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, and the government of Kuwait.
Since 2007, Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Abbas’s Palestinian Authority in the West Bank have shared authority over the Palestinian territories.
Mustafa participated in the Gaza Strip’s rehabilitation following Israel’s invasion in 2014.
According to an AFP count of Israeli data, Hamas assaulted southern Israel on October 7, killing almost 1,160 people, most of them civilians. This strike sparked the current Gaza war.
The health ministry of the territory reports that at least 31,341 individuals have died as a result of the retaliatory Israeli military attack in Gaza, the most of them being women and children.
In the West Bank, violence has increased during the conflict to levels not seen in almost 20 years.
Since the start of the Gaza war, at least 430 Palestinians have been slain in the West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers, according to the Ramallah health ministry.
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.
Russia conducted negotiations on the Gaza war and post-war plans shortly after Shtayyeh resigned in late February, involving Palestinian factions such as Hamas and Fatah.
Subsequently, the groups declared in a press release that they would aim for “unity of action” when facing Israel.
