Palestinian Authority must run Gaza after Israel's war ends: PM Mustafa

The Palestinian Authority must be the sole governing power in Gaza after the war, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa has said, as expectations grew that a deal to halt fighting and start returning Israeli hostages was near.

Who will run Gaza after the war remains one of the great unanswered questions in the negotiations, which have focused on an immediate ceasefire and exchanging prisoners still held in the besieged enclave for Palestinians in Israeli jails.

Speaking at a conference in Norway on Wednesday, Mustafa said pressure must continue to agree on the ceasefire in Gaza and allow in more humanitarian aid for more than 2 million people facing a severe humanitarian crisis after 15 months of war.

Only the Palestinians are legitimately placed to assume governance in Gaza after fighting ends and there should be no attempt to split Gaza off from the occupied West Bank as part of a Palestinian state, he said.

"While we are waiting for the ceasefire, it is important to stress that it won't be acceptable for any other entity to govern Gaza but the legitimate Palestinian leadership and the government of the state of Palestine," he told the conference, according to the text of his speech.

The PA, dominated by the Fatah faction created by former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, also faces opposition from the rival faction Hamas, which defeated Fatah in the 2006 elections.

He said Norway's recognition last year of a Palestinian state under the Palestinian Authority was an important step towards the two-state solution backed in principle by most of the international community.

Israel has rejected any involvement by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas. Still, it has been almost equally opposed to rule by the Palestinian Authority, the body set up under the Oslo Interim Peace Accords three decades ago that has limited governing power in the occupied West Bank.