Hamas asserts control in Gaza and targets alleged collaborators as ceasefire takes hold
By Tim Lister and Ibrahim Dahman, CNN
(CNN) — Hamas is reasserting control of parts of Gaza not occupied by Israeli forces as the ceasefire takes hold – amid continuing uncertainty about security in the territory if the group is disarmed.
Hamas’ internal security forces were pictured on the streets of Gaza City on Saturday, and there have been multiple reports of clashes between the group and clans opposing it in recent days.
“A number of collaborators and informants were apprehended and arrested in Gaza City, after it was proven that they were involved in spying for the enemy,” as well as “participating in the assassination of several resistance members,” the Palestinian Home Front, a Telegram channel affiliated with Hamas, said Sunday.
“The security services and the resistance are conducting a wide-scale field campaign across all areas of the Gaza Strip, from north to south, to locate and arrest collaborators and informants,” it said.
A video distributed by Hamas-affiliated Telegram channels on Saturday showed an alleged collaborator being beaten in an unknown location.
Other social media videos showed armed and masked Hamas personnel walking through a street market in Gaza City, and the Hamas-run interior ministry shared images of officers with rifles and baseball caps that read “police” in Gaza City interacting with locals.
Hamas has long held an iron grip over Gaza that continued even into the war. CNN has reported on Hamas executing and maiming alleged looters, a sign of the group’s continuing power despite being weakened by Israel.
The Hamas-controlled interior ministry has declared a week-long amnesty to begin Monday for members of criminal gangs “not involved in bloodshed or killings.”
But Hamas’ control of Gaza has been challenged by several clans in recent months, especially in the south. Some of those groups have received protection from the Israeli military.
Social media channels affiliated with Hamas reported clashes in the Sabra area of Gaza City between a prominent family and security forces during which Muhammad Imad Aql, the son of a senior Hamas military commander, was killed.
Hamas forces surrounded the Dughmush family’s neighborhood on Friday night. Sources told CNN that several members of the family had been killed, and a large number of masked, armed men had been deployed around the Jordanian hospital in Gaza City.
CNN was told Sunday that clashes continued in the area.
In southern Gaza, a group opposed to Hamas known as the Popular Forces has refused to lay down its arms.
The group has been involved in escorting aid shipments and has publicly challenged Hamas, which in turn has said it will confront what it called a criminal gang.
One of its commanders, Hussam al-Astal, posted on Facebook Saturday: “To all the Hamas rats, your tunnels are destroyed, your rights no longer exist. Repent before it’s too late – there is no Hamas from today onward.”
“We are trying to be an alternative to Hamas,” al-Astal told Israeli network Channel 12. “They commit to psychological warfare… and they will use all their power to prove that there is no other option in the strip but them.”
However, Popular Forces members are thought to have relocated behind what is known as the ‘yellow line’ inside southern Gaza, where Israeli forces are still present.
Unresolved questions
It is unclear how security and policing will work in Gaza in weeks and months to come.
Israel has long demanded that Hamas disarm but the group has resisted this.
US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan, published last week, says that “Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty.”
It also says there will be a process of demilitarization of Gaza “under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning.”
In the place of Hamas, according to the Trump plan, an International Stabilization Force (ISF) will immediately deploy to Gaza and “will train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces.”
But critical details of the security force and a planned international oversight mechanism have yet to be worked out beyond the vague bullet points of the initial plan.
In the complex reality of Gaza’s current situation, such a force could take months or longer to establish, especially amid a humanitarian crisis and massive damage to buildings and other infrastructure.
“Deployment (of the ISF) in the required numbers will have to occur over some time, and will be a major logistical challenge,” according to London-based think tank Chatham House.
“Issues of coordination, direction and control of an untested multinational venture of the scale required will also be formidable,” it said last week.
Casualties among Gaza’s police force during the two-year conflict have contributed to a deterioration in security, with looting of aid becoming commonplace.
Jordan and Egypt are expected to take the leading role in training and supervising the new police force. But it’s unclear when that force will begin to patrol the streets of Gaza, and whether Hamas’ internal security forces will disappear when it does.
The-CNN-Wire
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