Hamas police leading captured Palestinians in northern Gaza
While Israeli officials promise to advance a military operation in the southern Gaza Strip, possibly in an attempt to reach Rafah, it now seems Hamas is continuing to operate to restore its capabilities in areas from which the IDF has already withdrawn, particularly in the northern part of the coastal strip.
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UK-based Saudi news outlet Asharq Al-Awsat reported Sunday that Hamas is making "complex efforts" to control areas in the region where the Israeli presence is no longer felt.
Anonymous sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hamas has asked several local officials to manage the government's work in areas in the northern part of the Gaza Strip after the IDF withdrew from them. The report noted that, recently, several individuals associated with Hamas’ police force seen in military or civilian attire, have been observed in several markets and streets in the northern part of the strip. According to the report, their goal is to control product prices and prevent thefts in the area.
The report added that local Hamas leaders are working to stabilize the situation in the northern part of the Strip and prevent it from deteriorating further by ordering the police to operate in these areas and offering a financial aid fund of $200 to every government employee in the Strip. This fund, the outlet reported, is the first given since the cease-fire in Gaza took place in November as part of the hostage release deal with Hamas.
Sources that spoke with Asharq Al-Awsat claimed Hamas' police force and other security services within the organization have received instructions to resume their work in the northern Gaza Strip according to their capabilities and the security situation in the area.
It was also reported they were instructed to arrest Gazans involved in looting houses and shops. In footage released from the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, Hamas police officers, masked and armed, are seen leading partially naked detainees who allegedly looted homes in a "walk of shame.”
Hamas' attempt to "revive its government" in the northern Gaza Strip, the newspaper reported, is running parallel to the terrorist organization's effort to restore the activity of its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
Sources told the outlet that leaders of Hamas’ military wing appointed new battalion commanders, deputies and field personnel to replace those eliminated by the IDF during the recent ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip.
Hamas continues its activities in Rafah as well, where the IDF has so far only acted via airstrikes. For example, last week, Hamas’ police force in the city announced they had arrested suspects involved in the theft of gas tanks and another suspect in stealing a phone from refugee camps. "We returned the stolen items to their owners," the terror group’s statement read.
The report comes after testimonies of Hamas' return to areas came to light on Saturday. According to a report published by the Associated Press news agency, Hamas deployed police officers in Gaza City and has recently begun paying partial salaries to some of its public servants in the city.
Four Gaza City residents told the AP that, in recent days, uniformed and plainclothes police officers deployed near police headquarters and other government offices, including near Shifa Hospital, the territory's largest. The residents said they saw the return of civil servants and subsequent Israeli airstrikes near the makeshift offices in the western and northwestern parts of Gaza City.
The return of police marks an attempt to reinstate order in the devastated city after Israel withdrew a significant number of troops from northern Gaza last month, a Hamas official told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Saeed Abdel-Bar, a resident of Gaza City, said a cousin received funds from a makeshift Hamas office that was set up to distribute $200 payouts to government employees, including police officers and municipal workers.