On Wednesday, Hamas's website posted photographs of the weapons and
vehicles seized from PA installations, according to Middle East Newsline. Some of the vehicles were covered
with Hamas's insignia.
The officer said Hamas seized thousands of U.S.-origin M-16 and
Soviet-origin AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifles as well as military radios.
He said other booty captured by Hamas included trucks, mortars and hand
grenades.
Hamas also blew up the headquarters of the Preventive Security Apparatus
in Khan Yunis. At least three people were killed. In all, at least 33 people
were killed in fighting on Wednesday and early Thursday.
"We are going ahead with the steps we have taken in confronting all the
security posts and to clear the security posts," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu
Zuhri said.
The officer said Hamas forces took over arsenals of the PG and NSF
throughout the central and northern Gaza Strip. He said most of the new
weapons, particularly armored vehicles, were in PG installations.
The Hamas offensive in the Gaza Strip was said to have resembled a
military operation. Palestinian sources said Hamas fighters captured the
trans-Gaza highway, seized high-rise buildings as sniper outposts and
surrounded PA installations loyal to Abbas.
The installations that still remain nominally under Abbas control were
his compound and national security headquarters in Gaza City. Several of the
border passages, such as the Karni terminal, also remain under Fatah
control. Hamas has relayed a June 15, 7 p.m. deadline for Fatah to
surrender.
"This is madness, the madness that is going on in Gaza now," Abbas said.
Indeed, forces loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud
Abbas have disintegrated.
Palestinian sources said most of the 40,000 PA troops aligned with Fatah
have fled the fighting with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They said units have
been dismantled and outposts and installations abandoned or captured by
Hamas, which has employed about 20,000 fighters.
The biggest casualty of the Hamas offensive has been the National
Security Forces. With an estimated 30,000 troops, NSF was pummeled by Hamas
missile and mortar fire.
By Thursday, the sources said, there was little of NSF. The agency's
headquarters in Gaza City was captured by Hamas and entire units fled.
"What they [Hamas] are trying to do is solidify their grip on power by
any means," former PA Information Minister Yasser Abbed Rabbo, a Fatah
member, said.
The sources said hundreds of Fatah leaders and operatives have appealed
to Egypt and Israel for help. They said Fatah has urged Israel to send naval
boats to evacuate operatives from the Gaza Strip.
At least 50 senior Fatah operatives were said to have fled into Egypt's
Sinai Peninsula. PG commander Gen. Musbah Buhaisi left the Gaza Strip for
the West Bank.
The last Fatah holdouts were stationed in three security installations
around Gaza City. On Thursday, Hamas forces, aided by the Popular Resistance
Committees, fired missiles and mortars toward the PA buildings as they
called on Fatah operatives to surrender.
The Presidential Guard, with a strength of about 5,000, has also been
damaged in the Hamas war. The sources said virtually all PG positions have
been overrun by Hamas. An exception was the Karni border terminal in eastern
Gaza.
Both PG and NSF marked key beneficiaries of a U.S. security program to
bolster Abbas-aligned forces. The Bush administration allocated $59.4
million to the PA, $43.4 million of which to PG.
The Preventive Security Apparatus has been the key target of the Hamas
war. PSA commanders have been killed or fled the Gaza Strip, resulting in a
leadership vacuum.
On Thursday, Hamas forces opened a massive mortar and missile attack on
PSA headquarters in Tel El Hawa. Hours later, Hamas asserted that the
headquarters had been captured.
The PA General Intelligence service has also been a casualty in the
Hamas war. The GI, led by Gen. Amin Hindi, was said to contain 5,000
officers. On Thursday, GI headquarters came under heavy Hamas attack.
PA civilian police have not participated in the war. But sources said
hundreds of police have surrendered their weapons to Hamas.
Palestinian sources expect the militia war to move to the West Bank. On
Wednesday, Fatah forces raided Hamas offices in Nablus and 12 people were
abducted. Later, Palestinian sources said PA forces loyal to Abbas began
arresting Hamas operatives in the West Bank.
Fatah sources said they were concerned that Hamas was organizing squads
to assassinate key members of the Abbas-led movement in the West Bank. The
sources said Hamas has managed to infiltrate numerous PA agencies and Fatah
groups in the West Bank.
