Hamas has reemerged in Gaza to try to cement its dominance over the enclave after the ceasefire and the release of the remaining 20 live hostages.
The terrorist organization’s goal since the truce agreement was signed in Sinai last week is to reemerge victorious and not comply with the US-backed deal that is supposed to see it disarm and give up governance.
Hamas has launched several attacks on dissidents in the meantime, murdering them and dragging them through the streets, to show that it has no intention of going anywhere.
It has always used a combination of gangland-style killings and the appearance of normalcy in governance to control Gaza. This has been Hamas’s pattern since it seized control in an illegal coup in 2007.
Hamas's violent rule
The group uses violence when it wants to remind the populace that it is in charge. It has murdered people and dragged them behind motorcycles in the past. Hamas has carried out public “field executions” of people in the streets. It has attacked clans and families that it believes are dissidents, labeling them “collaborators.”
Hamas faced two years of war with Israel, where its terrorists could not easily travel in the open while bearing arms. However, every time there has been a ceasefire, Hamas has resurfaced with uniforms and guns.
It may have lost most of its rocket arsenal and even many of its tunnels. However, it has not lost its small arms, such as its AK-47 rifles. That is how Hamas came to power in the first place – with AK-47s. It did not have many missiles back in 2007.
And ever since, it has controlled the two million people in Gaza via violence.
The international community may prefer the Trump-backed plan of bringing in a “board of peace” and removing Hamas from power. However, countries are not willing to go into Gaza to do so.
Instead, they will end up believing and accepting that Hamas is bringing back “law and order” via its violence. A large swath of the international community believes that the terrorist organization enforces “law and order” via its Hamas “police force,” who are seen as separate from its “militant arm.”
This is fiction, but it is a fiction many choose to believe because then they can work with the Hamas “civilian” arm and “police force” while claiming not to work with its terrorist-affiliated part.
Hamas is a terrorist organization in its entirety. It inserts its dominance through mafia-like killings and a reign of terror similar to how the KKK (the Ku Klux Klan) once controlled towns in America’s South. This control is not always overt; it can happen in the shadows and be enforced via extrajudicial murders.
Hamas is prepared to violently quash rival clans
The first hurdle for Hamas as it attempts to regain its power is to remove the clans that challenged its rule during the war. At the top of the list for assassinations at the hands of Hamas is the Doghmosh clan.
This is a large and influential group. However, Hamas is prepared to use extreme violence against it because it does not want any challenge. To this end, Hamas has also confronted the al-Majayda clan in Khan Yunis. Hamas has been killing its members, and reports appear to indicate that this clan will bend the knee to Hamas’s reign.
Other groups in Gaza have worked with Israel, including the Abu Shabab one, which is rooted in Bedouin groups in southern Gaza, and a group led by a man named Hossam al-Astal.
According to Reuters, there is a clan in Shejaia that may be resisting Hamas.
“The Hellis clan is large in Gaza City, centered in the Shejaia suburb. A few months ago, a senior member of the clan, Rami Hellis, and Ahmed Jundeya, a member of another large Shejaia clan, formed a group that operates in defiance of Hamas within parts of Shejaia that are still under Israeli army control,” it reported.
It is difficult to know how much Hamas has been able to claw back control of the 50% of Gaza that is not in IDF hands. However, it appears to be reentering the cities and urban areas of Gaza.
Hamas will want to demonstrate its ability to control things on the ground. The deal signed in Egypt will provide this terrorist organization with a window of opportunity. If Hamas can cement itself again, it will be hard to pry its grip loose in the future.