Israel releases 39 Palestinians Israel releases 39 Palestinians

Israel's main opposition leader Yair Lapid said that the best option for post-war Gaza is to come under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

"This is the way things used to be; the PA still has about 20,000 employees in Gaza working for them, and most of the facilities and civil organizations there are managed remotely by them," Lapid said.

"This is how things used to be; the PA still has about 20,000 employees working for them in Gaza, and most of the facilities and civil organizations there are managed remotely by them," Lapid said, adding that the international community should help the PA in this regard.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority was established in 1993 as part of the Oslo Accords between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel as an interim body that would evolve into an independent Palestinian state comprising the occupied territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Today, however, it retains a large degree of administrative control over only 18 percent of the occupied West Bank. Many Palestinians and Palestinian factions accuse the PA of collaboration with Israel.

Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007 after months of clashes with Fatah, which ruled the PA after Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005.