GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Without holding elections, Hamas appointed on Oct. 26 a new head of the municipality in the Rafah governorate in the southern Gaza Strip. This prompted a wave of condemnation and rejections by Palestinian factions and civil society institutions in the Strip.
In a Facebook statement Oct. 26, the Rafah municipality said that “dignitaries and elites from the city of Rafah agreed to choose Anwar al-Shaer as the head of the municipality, succeeding Subhi Abu Radwan, during a meeting organized by the municipality and the Ministry of Local Government held on the same day.”