Hamas shows signs of resurgence in Gaza
By Najib Jobain and Samy Magdy
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — 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 Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war. Israel says it's 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 told the Associated Press that in recent days, uniformed and plainclothes 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 airstrikes 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 told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The official said the group's leaders had given directions to reestablish order in parts of the north where Israeli forces had withdrawn, including by helping prevent the looting of shops and houses abandoned by residents who heeded repeated Israeli evacuation orders and headed to southern Gaza.
During Israel's ground offensive, many homes and buildings were left half-standing or reduced to piles of rubble.
Meanwhile, combat continued in southern Gaza.
At least 11 people were injured when Israel's military fired smoke bombs at displaced people sheltering at the headquarters of the Palestinian Red Crescent in the southern city of Khan Younis, the organization said. It followed a siege that Israel's military has laid on the Red Crescent's facilities for 12 days.
The Red Crescent said it had documented the killing of 43 people, including three staff members, inside the buildings by Israeli
fire in those 12 days, with another 153 injured.
Israel's military didn't address the charity's allegations of firing on the buildings, the killings or the blocking of access, and asserted that the Al-Amal Hospital facilities had adequate fuel and electricity and that the military helped to replenish two oxygen tanks.
The military said operations in Khan Younis would continue for several days.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said Saturday that 107 people were killed over the past 24 hours, bringing the wartime total to 27,238. More than 66,000 people have been wounded.