New Delhi, July 6 -- GAZA CITY - For twenty years, it was the body that kept the machinery of daily life running in Gaza, distributing flour, managing hospitals, paying civil servants through siege and bombardment alike. On Sunday, Hamas formally disbanded it.

The Emergency Committee, which Hamas established to govern the enclave after its sweeping 2006 electoral victory, was dissolved on July 6 in a ceremony in Gaza City, where the group's media office head, Ismail al-Thawabta, read a statement confirming the decision. Acting chairman Mohammed Abdul Khaleq al-Farra simultaneously tendered his resignation, closing a chapter in Palestinian governance that outlasted two intifadas, four major Israeli military campaigns, and one of the most ...