After IDF withdrawal, Hamas issues massive mobilization order to reestablish control in Gaza City
Clashes reported between Hamas and local Gaza militias despite ceasefire
Following the withdrawal of the IDF to the positions agreed upon as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace proposal, Hamas has ordered a massive mobilization of around 7,000 fighters to retake control of areas vacated by the Israeli military, the BBC reported on Saturday.
The mobilization order was sent out via text message and phone call, the British broadcaster reported. Specifically, the group announced that it would target “lawbreakers and collaborators.”
"We declare a general mobilization in response to the call for national and religious obligation to cleanse Gaza of lawbreakers and collaborators with Israel,” the message said. “You must report within 24 hours to the designated places using the official codes.”
In the previous ceasefire agreement at the beginning of the year, Hamas also conducted a purge of Palestinians suspected of helping Israel by passing on intelligence. At that time, several of those detained by Hamas were publicly executed as a warning to the general Palestinian population in Gaza not to provide aid to Israel.
Palestinian reports from Gaza indicate that most of the Hamas security forces deploying in the newly vacated territory are wearing civilian clothes or uniforms similar to the Gaza police officers, in an an apparent attempt to distance themselves from the military wing of Hamas.
At the same time, Palestinian sources reported clashes between Hamas and rival militia groups in several areas of the Gaza Strip, as reported by the Financial Times.
Hours after the ceasefire began, Hamas moved quickly to reassert control over Gaza, setting up checkpoints, clashing with rival groups, and ordering militias to disarm within 48 hours.
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Witnesses told the Financial Times that gunfights erupted in northern Gaza between Hamas and… pic.twitter.com/YbwIrrch5T
A member of one of the largest clans in Gaza City, the Dughmush (also spelled Dajmash) clan, posted to Facebook claiming that Hamas has been targeting clan members over fears that the clan was preparing to be part of a post-Hamas security force in the Strip.
Mohammed Mansour Dughmush said that Hamas was attacking the largest clans in the Strip, as it has done after previous conflicts with Israel, to prevent a challenge to its authority in the enclave.
“Their goal is... Killing as many family members as possible to convince themselves they are powerful and rulers, and to try to restore their shattered prestige,” Mohammed Dughmush wrote.