An increasing number of violent incidents against members of the terror organization Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, have been carried out by an organization affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
In the past week, a bomb exploded in the car of an official in the Hamas Interior Ministry, and an another exploded near a Hamas security facility in Gaza City. In both cases, Hamas detained suspects.
The attacks have been attributed to a Salafist organization called “Islamic State Supporters in Beit Al-Maqdis.” Earlier this week, the organization issued a proclamation (Arabic link) in which it gave Hamas an ultimatum of three days to release its activists detained in Gaza. Arab media interpreted this as a declaration of war (Arabic link) on Hamas.
The International Business Times reported yesterday:
In its statement, Isis said that it would kill Hamas personnel one by one as it knows the names and addresses of all the officers working for the Palestinian Intelligence agency. Isis in Gaza also alleged that Hamas was working for the Israeli forces.
After Isis beheaded several Palestinians, including a senior Hamas official, inside the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria in April, the Palestinian Intelligence agency swore that it would avenge the killing of its personnel.
Since then Hamas has arrested several prominent Islamic State preachers from Gaza. According to Isis sources on social media, Hamas has arrested at least 40 “Salafi Mujahideen”.
Additionally, Salafi sources in Gaza claimed this week that Hamas destroyed a mosque (Arabic link) used by the same supporters of ISIS and arrested some of them.
Hamas is trying to reassure the public and make it clear (Arabic link) that the situation in the Gaza Strip is stable and these are only minor violations, but it is very afraid of an escalation in the confrontation with the Salafists.
The arrests were carried amid the expansion of ISIS in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in the Damascus suburbs. At the height of the fighting in the refugee camp, Hamas, which also has forces there, detained a Salafist sheikh.
Hamas had clashed with Salafists in the Gaza Strip for many years. The last significant conflict occurred in 2009, when security forces raided a Salafist mosque. Clashes erupted between the two sides, in which 20 Salafists were killed, including a sheikh who had announced the establishment of an Islamic emirate in the Gaza Strip. Palestinians are concerned (Arabic link) that a new and bloody conflict is likely to break out between the two sides.
[Photo: Levantine Group / YouTube ]