Hamas shows signs of resurgence in Gaza areas from which Israel withdrew bulk of troops
- In a sign of the group’s resilience, it has begun deploying police officers and paying civil servants in a bid to re-establish order in the north
- Hamas runs a bureaucracy in Gaza with thousands of government workers, including teachers and police, who operate separately from its military wing
Hamas has begun to resurface in areas where Israel withdrew the bulk of its forces a month ago, deploying police officers and making salary payments to some of its civil servants in Gaza City in recent days, four residents and a senior official in the militant group said Saturday.
Signs of a Hamas resurgence in Gaza’s largest city underscore the group’s resilience despite Israel’s deadly air and ground campaign in the four months since the October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war. Israel says it is determined to crush Hamas and prevent it from returning to power in Gaza, an enclave it has ruled since 2007.
In recent days, Israeli forces renewed strikes in the western and northwestern parts of Gaza City, including in areas where some salary distributions reportedly took place.
Four Gaza City residents said that in recent days, uniformed and plain-clothes police officers deployed near police headquarters and other government offices, including near Shifa Hospital, the territory’s largest. The residents said they saw the return of civil servants and subsequent Israeli air strikes near the makeshift offices.
The return of police marks an attempt to reinstate order in the devastated city after Israel withdrew a significant number of troops from northern Gaza last month, a Hamas official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.
