GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to disband the Higher Committee for Tribal Affairs in Gaza, but its leader said the group will carry on because it's never received "a dime" from his government anyway.

Abbas accuses the committee of working with Fatah’s Democratic Reformist Current, which is affiliated with his rival, dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan. The Sept. 10 presidential decree to disband the committee will take effect once it appears in the official gazette.

Abbas established the committee in the southern provinces in 2012 to solve social problems and disputes between Palestinian families. Hussni Salman al-Mughanni, its head, recently told Al-Monitor, “We were surprised by Abbas’ decision to disband the committee. Since 2012, we have been carrying out public reforms and solving social problems.”

The committee includes 850 heads of Palestinian families distributed among 65 subcommittees tasked with conflict resolution and social reform in the Gaza Strip. Mughanni said the group handles many of the Gaza Strip's social problems, adding that Abbas always called the committee the “social weapon of the Palestine Liberation Organization.”