GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The confrontation between the Salafist jihadist movement and Hamas-led security services in the Gaza Strip has returned to the surface following a two-year truce between the two sides.

Strong tensions returned after security services arrested Salafist Sheikh Adnan Mayt, a prominent Salafist jihadist activist, April 6. This was followed by the arrest of other Salafists and raids of their homes, an April 29 statement by Ansar al-Dawla al-Islamiya (Arabic for “supporters of the Islamic State”) said.

The arrests increased following the two roadside bomb blasts that detonated in the Gaza Strip on April 18, which the Interior Ministry described as "primitive." One of the blasts exploded near the outer wall of the UNRWA headquarters, and the other went off near the UNRWA general prosecutor's office. A third explosion took place a day earlier near the Abu Mazen roundabout in western Gaza.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Abu al-Ayna al-Ansari, a Salafist movement official, said that his movement did not conduct these bombings, and condemned the arrests of 30 Salafists that began in mid-April across the Gaza Strip, especially in the central Gaza Strip and the south.