Palestinian Authority approves new Cabinet members

March 28 (UPI) -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday approved the members of a new Cabinet that is expected to take over the Gaza Strip once Hamas is expelled from the region.

Prime Minister-designate Mohammad Mustafa submitted the names of 22 new Cabinet members who plan to overhaul the Palestinian Authority amid U.S. and international pressure to form a body capable of governing post-war Gaza.

The new administration has plans to facilitate humanitarian aid to people in the Gaza Strip, as well as reconstruction efforts and the reformation of institutions in Gaza and the West Bank.

Ziad Hab al-Reeh, former head of the authority's internal intelligence agency, retained his position as interior minister. Former head of the Palestinian Businessmen Association Muhamad al-Amour was appointed as business minister.

Prior to his designation as prime minister, Mustafa has served as Abbas' senior economic adviser since 2005 and was minister of the national economy from 2013 to 2014.

The United States welcomed the newly formed organization and said it will look to it to implement the necessary reforms.

"We will engage with this government based on its actions," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. "We'll be closely tracking the steps it takes to advance key reforms and look forward to engaging with them on that matter."

The new Palestinian Authority received little to no praise at home. Tareq Baconi, president of the board of Palestinian think tank Al-Shabaka, told the Washington Post that the new appointments are "cosmetic adjustments."

Raquela Karamson, a spokesperson with the Israeli prime minister's office, said the new administration would offer "no change" unless it changed policies that allowed payments to families of people imprisoned by Israel for terrorism offenses.

Hamas has held control of the Gaza Strip since violently ousting the Palestinian Authority in 2007. The authority, meanwhile, has struggled with popularity amid calls for Abbas -- who has been in office for two decades with no new elections -- to step down as president.