Palestinian Authority / Gaza Government Graph

Method and Status Definitions

Structure from the Amended Basic Law of 2003 (revised 2005; English text at constituteproject.org), cited by article on each node. Officeholders current as of October 6, 2026, each with a dated source and a short quote checked against the source page.

This graph models Palestinian governance as it operates, not as the Basic Law describes it. The President of the Palestinian Authority sits at the centre because, with no presidential vote since 2005 and no sitting Legislative Council since 2007, he governs by decree-law (art. 43), appoints the Prime Minister and the security chiefs, and chairs both the PLO Executive Committee and Fatah. The Legislative Council is shown as dissolved; a decree of October 10, 2026 replaced the November 28, 2026 legislative vote with simultaneous presidential and legislative elections on September 11, 2027. A draft interim constitution was published in Feb 2026 and is not in force.

Gaza is modelled as a parallel structure. Hamas, its Political Bureau, Shura Council and armed wing, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Israeli-backed Popular Forces in Rafah, and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza created under UN Security Council Resolution 2803 appear as nodes with typed edges (controls, sponsors, supplies, parallel to). Foreign bodies that hold real power on the ground are included: Israel's COGAT, the Board of Peace and the International Stabilization Force, with Egypt, Qatar and Turkey as mediators and Iran as patron.

Sources are official sites of the Palestinian Authority and its bodies, the Palestinian news agency WAFA (labeled as state media), and named outlets of record. Where a page blocked access, an archived copy was used. Verified means two sources agree, or a 2026 official or state media report names the holder in post. Single source means one such report. Vacant and unconfirmed are shown as such rather than filled with a guess; unconfirmed items are withheld.

Turnover in 2026: Khalil al-Hayya was elected head of the Hamas Political Bureau in July; Israel killed two successive Qassam Brigades commanders in May and no successor has been named; the Hamas Gaza leadership vote was suspended in September; Fatah elected a new Central Committee in May, Hussein al-Sheikh as deputy chairman in June and Jibril Rajoub as secretary in September; the Gaza committee, the Board of Peace and the stabilization force took up their roles in January.

Not yet covered: governors of all 16 governorates, security service deputies, Hamas regional leaders for the West Bank and abroad, and historical holders.

Middle East Forum, an applied policy research organization, founded 1994. Corrections: meforum.org/contact.