While fierce battles between IDF and Hamas terrorists have become routine in Gaza, a different kind of conflict has emerged within the Gaza Strip in recent weeks. The terrorist organization is now fighting crime families and mobs who dare to interfere with what has become Gaza's primary source of power and revenue – international humanitarian aid. For this battle, crucial to Hamas' survival in Gaza, the organization is willing to divert weapons and fighters, despite their severe shortage in the war against the IDF. For this purpose, Hamas established a special unit called "Saham" (arrow in Arabic), whose formation received favorable coverage in Arab media outlets last week.
According to the Palestinian news site Shahab, the Saham unit was created by Hamas' Interior Ministry, which oversees the terrorist organization's police forces. The unit consists mainly of former police officers and "volunteers," presumably terrorists whom the organization has pulled from combat duties.
However, Gaza bloggers assert this is merely a rebranding of a force established by eliminated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, consisting of "thugs" from Jabalia recruited to eliminate the organization's opponents. Palestinian media sources state that the unit's mission is to "confront merchants who inflate prices, swindlers, thugs, and armed criminal gangs." The unit has been operating for several weeks and has reportedly killed dozens of gang members. This morning alone, two unit members were killed during a raid on a Jargoun area gang compound in Khan Younis, where the gang was trading in smuggled cigarettes. Five gang members were killed in the raid, with footage of the confrontation spreading across social media.
Saham unit operatives employ all the terrorist organization's characteristic methods. They move in civilian clothes to avoid IDF detection, wearing masks. Unit members have been documented executing civilians, beating them with iron rods, and even firing RPG rockets at smugglers' vehicles. For many Gaza residents suffering from dramatic price increases, the unit's actions serve as a release valve for anger and helplessness, but for many others, it represents outright terror. The attention given to the Saham unit also underscores the central struggle for control over Gaza – it appears that even Hamas recognizes that whoever controls the flow of aid to Gaza's residents will control the Gaza Strip when the fighting subsides.
