Tensions increase between Hamas, Salafists
Hamas-affiliated security forces have been waging a large-scale arrest campaign targeting Salafists, while Gaza’s fate seems to hang in the balance.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The tension between Hamas and Gaza security services against Salafist jihadists has returned to the fore, most recently in a campaign of arrests targeting Salafists. Hundreds of security checkpoints have been set up to search and arrest Salafists and anyone thought to be connected to them in Gaza City.
The checkpoints and the intensive security campaigns portend that tensions between the two sides may reach a peak not seen since 2009, when security services and Hamas took control of the Ibn Taymiyyah mosque, leading to the death of Salafists who had barricaded themselves inside. A significant number of Salafists are now languishing in Gaza jails.
Gaza's Deputy Interior Minister Kamel Madi told Al-Monitor that the detainees are fewer than 10 and called them "lawbreakers."
“The detainees are individuals who broke the law. We did not detain them [for being accused of being members] of the Islamic State [IS]. We detain anyone who breaks the law. We have no problem with any Palestinian citizen,” he said.
