Gazans brace for more woe as PA plans to get tough with Hamas

The decade-long Palestinian split looks set to deepen in the coming months, with President Mahmoud Abbas poised to take measures against Gaza to squeeze its rulers, Hamas.

The moves raise concerns of more suffering for Gaza’s two million residents, who are already under an Israeli blockade and facing severe electricity shortages, while a cornered Hamas could renew violence against Israel.

Analysts said the measures would also widen the gap between Hamas-run Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where Mr Abbas’s government has limited self-rule.

Hamas and Mr Abbas’s Fatah party have been in dispute since Hamas seized control of Gaza in a near civil war in 2007. Hamas has since fought three wars with Israel and there are fears of a fourth.

Several reconciliation attempts between the Palestinian factions have failed but Egypt thought it had made a breakthrough in 2017 when the two sides agreed to eventually share power.

As part of that agreement Hamas withdrew from border crossings between Gaza and Egypt and Israel, allowing the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority to return and the Egyptian border to be reopened regularly.

The reconciliation agreement has since collapsed. Yesterday, the authority announced it would withdraw from the Egyptian border crossing, creating a dilemma for Cairo about whether to leave it open with Hamas in control. So far, it has indicated it will.

Senior officials close to Mr Abbas said he was looking for other measures to punish Hamas.

Among these could be removing staff from the crossings between Israel and Gaza, making it hard for Israel to allow anything into the territory without dealing directly with Hamas, which it and many other countries consider a terrorist organisation.

They could include cutting salaries to families of Hamas prisoners or rescinding Palestinian passports for Hamas employees.

Mr Abbas also pledged to dissolve the Hamas-dominated Palestinian parliament, which although it has not met since the 2007 split is still nominally the basis for new laws.

“Very important decisions against Hamas are being discussed,” a senior official said.

The pledge follows arrests of people affiliated with Fatah in Gaza, Mr Abbas’s allies say. The official said the authority spent about $100 million (Dh367m) a month in Gaza and was looking to cut back significantly.

“Those that want to rule Gaza must bear the responsibility of governing it,” he said.

Azzam Al Ahmad, a senior Abbas ally and negotiator of the 2017 reconciliation agreement, said “the leadership is considering a number of measures”.

Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said the group had experienced similar threats before.

“Any type of sanctions, such as electricity, preventing medicine, closing the border or cutting the salaries are intended to blackmail residents into rising against Hamas, and they fail,” Mr Naim said. “This is the most that Abbas can do.”

The Palestinians have faced stark challenges over the past two years, with US President Donald Trump leading what he has called the most pro-Israel administration ever.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government has meanwhile continued to expand settlements in the West Bank.

And at least 241 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since protests along the border began in March last year. Two Israeli soldiers have been killed.

The protests calmed in recent months after Hamas and Israel struck an agreement that allowed aid into the territory.

Last week, it was reported that Israel had blocked a third tranche of funding, which could lead to increased tension.

The Palestinian Authority spends $100m in Gaza every month, an official said, including on electricity subsidies