Armed groups are moving to take control of security and resources in Gaza as the Hamas government struggles to provide services during the war with Israel, according to sources inside the territory.
Palestinians in Gaza told i that in recent weeks masked men armed with guns and sticks have been patrolling streets in the southern city of Rafah, claiming to be providing security.
A spokesperson for one such group told French news agency AFP earlier this month that they provide security and prevent price gouging by traders, as well as organising markets and transport, but declined to say on whose orders. “We work for the people,” the spokesperson said.
A Palestinian living in southern Gaza, whose name has been withheld for security reasons, said that Hamas has been greatly diminished by the war, allowing an upsurge in crime, from theft to murder.
“I don’t think Hamas is in control, and Gaza is suffering from a lack of security,” the source said. “Otherwise, why do we see stealing, people killing other people, and clashes when it comes to receiving aid?”
Some of the new groups are concerned with maintaining public order, while others operate like criminal gangs, they added.
Criminality has surged inside the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, driven by a breakdown of security and desperate conditions, according to senior officials at UNRWA, the UN agency primarily responsible for emergency relief inside the enclave.
“The situation has morphed over time into criminal elements trying to get to the aid before it reaches our distribution points,” deputy director Scott Anderson told the Financial Times, calling one hazardous stretch of road “Mad Max territory” in reference to the post-apocalyptic Hollywood film.
Israel has attempted to partner with local families on aid distribution to bypass both Hamas and UNRWA, which senior Israeli officials have accused of being a front for Hamas, without supplying evidence.
The Israeli government has also floated a proposal for post-war Gaza to be governed by influential local “clans” with no affiliation to Hamas or Fatah, which has limited governing powers in the occupied West Bank.
A statement from the National Assembly of Palestinian Tribes last week acknowledged a role in “protection committees” providing services in Rafah, claiming that Israel has killed Hamas policemen who previously fulfilled this function – a complaint also made by the US.
Tribal leaders have ruled out playing a part in any Israeli plan to replace Hamas. “The administration of the Gaza Strip is a purely Palestinian affair, and no party has the right to interfere,” said Akef al-Masry, head of the southern grouping of tribes, adding that the tribes would limit themselves to emergency relief measures.
Ramy Abdu, chairman of the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor group, which has field workers on the ground in Gaza, said that tribes are working quietly with Hamas over the provision of services. But he said that militancy among tribal leaders made it impossible for them to work with Israel to replace Hamas.
“These families represent the bulk of [militant] faction members,” he said. “If I am the head of a tribe and I want to collaborate with Israel, the first people to shoot me will be my family members.”
The oldest and most powerful families in Gaza have also lost influence through waves of refugees from other parts of Israel and Palestine arriving in the territory over the past several decades, Mr Abdu added, suggesting that they lack the capability to govern.
Jason Shawa, an author and translator from Gaza who left for Egypt during the war, said that rule by clans would not be sustainable.
“This would not be accepted by the inhabitants of Gaza,” he said. “It would be anarchy as we had before Hamas took over 20 years ago. Several of these clans were causing havoc – they were armed, taking people’s cars, and even seizing property.”
Some of the most influential clans are also widely believed to have been stealing aid during the war, Mr Shawa said.
Dr Andreas Krieg, a Middle East security analyst and lecturer at King’s College London, said that clan control would undermine Israel’s security interests.
“Some of these clans have competed with Hamas in the past to run smuggling and criminal networks,” he said, adding that the deadly raids of 7 October also showed the danger they pose.
“Hamas centrally planned the operation, but we have also seen that this was a network that included all kinds of non-state actors and militias, some closely affiliated to local tribes,” Dr Krieg said. “I would say that probably some of the worst atrocities were committed by affiliates of Hamas that are more closely aligned with these tribal networks in Gaza.”
Yoni Ben Menachem, an Israeli security analyst, said that Israel regards the new security patrols in Gaza as “plainclothes Hamas” operations that have the group’s backing.
The militant group is still powerful enough to deter clans from seeking to usurp it, he added, but he suggested that some groups could change their position if Israel was able to destroy Hamas.
However, rule by clans could result in a greater threat to Israel’s security than that posed by Hamas, the analyst suggested.
“When you don’t have a government, you have a vacuum and armed groups emerge, and then they start attacking Israelis,” said Mr Ben Menachem. “Better to have an organised regime than chaos.”