In recent weeks, Hamas has managed to reorganize its personnel and began paying partial salaries to civil service workers on its behalf in the areas of Gaza which the IDF has withdrawn from. This was reported by the AP news agency, which cited reports from four eyewitnesses who were present at the scene.
According to eyewitness reports, the activity of Hamas members centered around government offices and the Shifa Hospital. Four residents of Gaza City told the AP that in recent days, police officers in uniform and civilian clothes have been deployed near the police headquarters and other government offices, as well as at Shifa Hospital.
Israeli strikes renewed?
The residents said they saw the return of civil servants, but noted that they witnessed IDF airstrikes in the area of the makeshift offices. “In recent days, Israeli forces renewed the attacks in the western and northwestern parts of Gaza City, including in the areas where salaries were distributed,” the sources claimed.
“The return of the police marks an attempt to restore order in the devastated city after the Israeli forces withdrew from northern Gaza last month,” a Hamas official told AP. He noted that the group’s leaders gave instructions to restore order in the parts of the north where the Israeli forces had retreated, including by helping to prevent the looting of shops and houses abandoned by residents who responded to repeated Israeli evacuation orders on their way to southern Gaza.
Said Abdel Bar, a resident of Gaza City, told the AP that his cousin received funds from a makeshift Hamas office set up to distribute $200 payments to government employees, including police and municipal workers. Ahmed Abu Hadros, another resident of Gaza City, said that Israeli warplanes attacked the area where the makeshift office is located several times earlier this week, including on Saturday.
Comments are closed.