Hamas is prevailing in its jihad against Fatah, whom here they term “non-believers,” evidently for the remnants of secular Arab nationalism in the Fatah platform. “Key security HQ in Gaza City, last Fatah stronghold, falls,” from the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Ray:
Hamas fighters overran Fatah-allied Preventive Security headquarters in Gaza City on Thursday, a key target in their battle to control the entire Gaza Strip, witnesses and a security agency official said.
One witness, Jihad Abu Ayad, said Hamas gunmen were bringing Preventive Security men out of the building and executing them in the street.
Moments after the key security command was taken over, aides said that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas gave his first order to his elite presidential guard to strike back against Hamas rivals.
However, PA officials told the Jerusalem Post that no decision had yet been made and that a meeting between Abbas and his security officials had not yet reached its conclusion.
Nevertheless, the PA officials said that Abbas was expected to officially pull Fatah out of the PA unity government.
The coup de grace to Fatah sovereignty occurred a day after 35 Palestinians were killed in factional fighting in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier, Fatah operatives called on Abbas to order a move from defense to offense, “even at the price of thousands of dead Palestinians,” to avoid losing the Gaza Strip to Hamas.
The call to Abbas Thursday morning came after Fatah officials urged Abbas to resign Wednesday night. Fatah members have grown increasingly angry at what they termed Abbas’s failure to order a strong counter-attack to Hamas and a lack of clear-cut orders.
More than 70 people, most of them militants, have been killed in the three days since Gaza slid into civil war. Early Thursday, five more casualties were added to the tally.
“There will be no dialogue with Fatah, only the sword and the rifle,” Nezar Rayyan, a top Hamas leader, told Hamas radio on Thursday.
“This is a battle between Muslims and non-believers, and God willing, we will lead the Friday prayer in the president’s office, and transform the [Fatah-controlled] security complex into a big mosque.”