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Hamas claims victory in Gaza

Palestinian youths of the pro-Fatah Hellis family check their damaged home following clashes with members of Hamas security forces last week in the Shujaia neighborhood in Gaza City on Monday. PHOTO: AFP

The Islamic militant group Hamas has eliminated the last major pocket of armed resistance to 14 months of rule in Gaza, a top security official said on Monday, after Hamas forces seized mortars, mines and grenade launchers from a once powerful Fatah-allied clan.

Dozens of members of the Hilles clan were in Hamas custody, and dozens more, who had fled to Israel to avoid capture, were given asylum in the Fatah-ruled West Bank on Monday.

In a small sign of defiance, a group of Hilles children went outdoors wrapped in yellow Fatah flags, saying they hoped the sight would annoy Hamas troops patrolling the neighborhood on foot and in pickup trucks.

Saturday’s raid of the Hilles stronghold in Gaza City’s Shijaiyeh neighborhood, which left 11 dead and scores wounded, marked a fresh setback for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the head of Fatah.

Abbas’ leadership in the West Bank had already been weakened by his failure to win concessions from Israel in peace talks. The defeat of the Hilles clan, one of Fatah’s last high-profile bastions in Gaza, underscored Hamas’ tight control, dimming already faint hopes Abbas could ever win back the territory he lost in the bloody Hamas takeover last year.

Abbas still has a base of support in Gaza, including tens of thousands who draw government salaries from the West Bank, but the movement has been stripped of offices, media outlets and, most importantly, its armed forces.

Islam Shahwan, the Hamas police spokesman, said in an interview that the weekend raid — which amounted to the bloodiest Hamas-Fatah fighting since the Gaza takeover — sent a “clear message to all concerned.”

“We do believe this was the last stronghold in Gaza,” he said, referring to potential Hamas opponents among the territory’s myriad clans. “This stronghold had to be uprooted.”

INTERROGATION

Illustrating the extent of Hamas’ control, he said anyone wanted for interrogation from the unruly Dughmush clan, which is frequently involved in street skirmishes, could be summoned with a phone call.

Shahwan said more than 100 Hilles men were in detention and that Hamas forces seized a large weapons stockpile, including mortars, assault rifles, mines and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

The Hilles clan, native to Gaza and one of the largest in the territory, has thousands of members, and about 4,000 live in the Shijaiyeh area, close to Israel’s heavily guarded border with Gaza.

More than 180 clansmen ran toward Israeli positions on Saturday afternoon, when it became clear Hamas was about to take control of the neighborhood. After some delays, in part because of Hamas fire toward the border, Israel let in the Fatah refugees, including wounded men.

A two-day odyssey ensued, with Abbas wavering whether he should allow the refugees to settle in the West Bank. He ruled out the idea on Sunday, arguing that Fatah needs to maintain a presence in Gaza and cannot abandon the territory to Hamas.

As a result, more than 30 Hilles men were sent back to Gaza, and Hamas immediately arrested about half of them. Fearing Hamas retribution, a dozen in that group — still wearing the dark blue coveralls they had been given by Israeli troops — remained in an Israeli-controlled buffer zone just inside Gaza on Monday.

DANGER

The Israeli army decided that those returning to Gaza would face imminent danger and said Hilles men should not be sent back against their will.

In the end, 92 Hilles men, including the 12 who had waited at the border, were taken to the West Bank town of Jericho. Another 60 went back to Gaza voluntarily, 16 remained in Israeli hospitals and 13 were in Israeli custody, the Israeli military said.

After nightfall on Monday, Hilles refugees arrived at an Israeli checkpoint on the outskirts of Jericho. Dressed in training pants and white undershirts, they were searched and then handed over to Palestinian intelligence in Jericho.

Sufian Abu Zaydeh, a Gaza native and former Palestinian Cabinet minister from Fatah, said the forced exile of the Fatah supporters was a sign of Gaza’s desperation.

“When a man stands between two choices: to be killed by his people or to be arrested by his enemy, and he reaches a conclusion that it is better to be arrested by his enemy, it shows you how cruel the situation is in Gaza,” he told Israel’s Army Radio.
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