The Palestinian Authority told the US it is ready to “clash” with Hamas if that is the price needed to take power in the Gaza Strip, during a pitch to President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Middle East Eye can reveal.

The plan was presented on Tuesday to Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Riyadh by Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian official who has been floated as a successor to octogenarian Palestinian President Mohammad Abbas, a Palestinian source told MEE.

The PA’s plan envisions the Gaza Strip ruled by a committee whose majority is from outside of the enclave.

The rendezvous between Trump’s Middle East troubleshooter and Sheikh was facilitated by Saudi Arabia at the request of the PA, after Witkoff refused its overtures to meet in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the source said.