New Delhi, April 28 -- Palestinian authorities said Sunday that local elections in a single Gaza community and the Israeli-occupied West Bank were a success and called them a step toward a long-delayed presidential election in the territories and eventual statehood.

The Palestinian Authority, which administers semiautonomous areas of the West Bank but is left out of the U.S.-drafted ceasefire plan for Gaza, has described Saturday's local election in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah as a largely symbolic pilot while the authority seeks to politically link the territories.

It was the first election in part of Hamas-run Gaza in more than two decades. Deir al-Balah, like much of the territory, is devastated by two years of war but was spared an...