Gaza's Deputy Minister of Interior Kamel Abu Madi told Al-Monitor that despite recent bombings and the fact that the security forces have not been paid in a year, there is no reason for Gazans to panic.
Abu Madi revealed that the number of security apparatus members in the Gaza Strip amounts to 18,000 — including the police, the security and protection units, the internal security forces and the national security agency, as well as other security departments. These 18,000 individuals have not received their salaries since the consensus government was established in June 2014. He described the security situation in the Gaza Strip as completely stable and noted that the occasional security breaches come in the natural context of every society.
In an interview with Al-Monitor, Abu Madi pointed out that the bombings that occurred in Gaza over the past few weeks are minimal in terms of number and impact on the stability of the security situation, but he was quick to point fingers at who he felt was responsible. The bombings occurred on different days in April and May, with no particular party claiming responsibility for them, and they were seen as an attempt to push Gaza, once again, into a spiral of chaos. He accused security and political figures in the Palestinian Authority (PA) of being behind these acts, which he described as “criminal,” holding President Mahmoud Abbas and his security forces fully responsible. He said that those behind the security breaches are trying to exploit the regional conflict between some countries in the region.
Abu Madi, 59, who is considered the top man in command in the Gaza Strip, noted that Gaza’s security apparatus has good ties with all Palestinian factions. He said that those detained by the security services in Gaza are not from a particular faction, but that they are a very limited number of outlaws who tried to sabotage the security of Palestinian society. He refused to talk about the developments of the truce between Hamas and Israel, as he considered that a political matter that should be discussed by politicians. He emphasized that the security services in Gaza consider Egypt as a friendly neighbor, with a prominent role in supporting the Palestinian cause. According to Abu Madi, the security services do not accept compromising Egyptian security, and the security services are always deployed on its border to maintain the security of Egypt and Gaza at all times.
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