The Palestinian Hamas faction has spent the last few months in something of a freefall, finding itself almost totally isolated regionally and losing control inside the Gaza Strip. The Iran-backed terror group has sought to restore its visibility via spectacular terror attacks, and has sought to reassert domestic control by cracking down on civil liberties.

Those crackdowns have included renewed attacks on journalists and news outlets. One of the offices shuttered was that of Ma’an, a popular Palestinian outlet. The move has become a PR train-wreck for Hamas. The organization has gone so far as to offer to hire old Ma’an employees and put them on salary.

Ma’an, instead, is piling on:

Palestinian Authority security forces spokesman Adnan Dmeiri said Monday that the Hamas movement is in a state of “hysteria.” “Hamas is still insisting on a level of craziness and hysteria. We believe that some Palestinians believe Hamas’ lies and falsehoods,” Dmeiri said…

Hamas closed Ma’an’s Gaza bureau on July 25, accusing the news agency of deliberately publishing “false news reports seeking to incite against Gaza.” The attorney general in Gaza also ordered the closure of al-Arabiya’s Gaza office, accusing both outlets of disseminating information “unprofessionally.” Human Rights Watch has said that Hamas “should immediately revoke the summary closure of two media offices.”

[Photo: Israel Defense Forces/ Flickr]