Israel's final threat of Rafah offensive increases pressure ahead of Ramadan: As negotiations over a hostage deal continue in Doha, the PLO prime minister has announced his resignation.
The announcement of his resignation came as a surprise, as Mohammed Shtayyeh had recently announced at the Munich Security Conference that a Palestinian summit would be held in Moscow, of all places, on Monday. The meeting in the Russian capital initially remained eerily quiet. It is now scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
The Palestinian Prime Minister is also in no hurry to withdraw for now. He announced that he had already submitted his resignation last Tuesday. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked Shtayyeh to remain in office on an interim basis. A change of Palestinian guard, which is apparently taking place under pressure from the US and some Arab states, which have been pushing for the renewal of the Palestinian government for months. Is Shtayyyeh just a pawn sacrifice?