Special to WorldTribune.com

GAZA CITY — Hamas, facing a disgruntled rank-and-file, has eased restrictions on supporters of Al Qaida and Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

Palestinian sources said Hamas, which unofficially continues to control the Gaza Strip, has reduced operations against jihadist militias. They said Hamas security forces were ordered not to arrest Al Qaida and ISIL supporters unless they posed an immediate threat.

“Hamas has decided that it does not want or need another confrontation with the jihadists,” a source said.

In mid-January 2015, Hamas allowed Al Qaida and ISIL supporters to demonstrate in Gaza City against cartoons of Islam’s founder, Mohammed in a French magazine. At one point, some 200 Islamists, many of them carrying ISIL-type black flags, stormed the French Cultural Center.

Hamas security forces did not clash with the protesters. Instead, they formed a cordon to block the jihadists from entering the French center, bombed several times over the last year.

The rally marked the first time that Hamas approved an Al Qaida-aligned demonstration against the West. The sources said many Hamas members, including those linked to the security forces, were transferring their support to jihadist militias amid the halt in government salaries over the last six months.

  Al Qaida, Hamas backs away from confrontation with ISIL, WorldTribune.com