Hamas entrenches control through Gaza clans ahead of technocratic transition – report

As US-backed Board of Peace pushes Hamas to relinquish power to technocratic committee, the terror group is reportedly using local clans for bid to retain control even after the committee begins administering the Strip.

By World Israel News Staff

Hamas is working to install loyalists in influential clan, neighborhood and municipal positions across the Gaza Strip, according to a report Wednesday, raising further doubts that the terrorist organization intends to relinquish control to a planned technocratic administration.

The effort is intended to preserve Hamas’ influence from the ground up even if it formally withdraws from Gaza’s civilian government, Kan Reshet Bet reported, citing Palestinian security sources.

Hamas has reportedly sought to organize elections for family councils and promote allied figures as mukhtars, the traditional local leaders who frequently mediate disputes and represent extended families or neighborhoods.

The organization is also working to place loyalists at the head of neighborhood committees, refugee camps and centers serving displaced Gazans, according to the report.

Hamas has allegedly offered cooperating local figures benefits intended to make them dependent on its organizational network. Those incentives include help resolving family disputes, preferential treatment and access to humanitarian assistance.

The reported campaign comes as Gaza’s clans have assumed a more prominent role during the war, particularly in areas where established courts, municipal bodies and security institutions have weakened or ceased operating.

By building alliances with clan leaders, Hamas is seeking to restore its control over civilian life, limit disorder and expand its ability to supervise communities throughout the territory, the Palestinian security sources said.

The effort appears designed to allow Hamas to exercise power indirectly after a proposed technocratic committee formally takes responsibility for Gaza’s civilian administration.

Hamas announced earlier this month that its emergency governing committee was dissolving and that its acting chairman was resigning, describing the decision as a step toward transferring authority to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said at the time that the organization would not participate in postwar governing arrangements.

“We are now opening the door wide for the National Committee to enter the Gaza Strip,” Qassem said.

The technocratic committee, headed by former Palestinian Authority official Ali Shaath, is intended to oversee Gaza’s daily civilian affairs, restore public services and participate in reconstruction while Hamas is excluded from government.

Israel has treated Hamas’s announced withdrawal with skepticism, noting that government employees and administrators appointed during the group’s rule were expected to remain in their positions.

Israeli political officials called the resignation “a meaningless political spin” intended to create an appearance of progress without ending Hamas’s practical control.

Palestinian sources have similarly warned that the committee could hold formal authority while Hamas retains the institutions, personnel and weapons needed to exercise power behind the scenes.

“Shaath may have the key to the car, but it is a Hamas car,” one Palestinian source previously told Reuters.

An Israeli military assessment reported earlier this year found that Hamas was attempting to preserve its influence by integrating supporters into government ministries, security agencies and local authorities.

The assessment said Hamas had appointed figures connected to its military wing as district governors and had replaced senior officials in ministries responsible for the economy, taxation and internal security.

Hamas officials denied that the personnel changes were intended to maintain political control. They said temporary appointments were required to prevent an administrative vacuum and keep basic services operating.

“The organizational measures taken during the past period were necessary to prevent the collapse of the service system,” Hamas government media chief Ismail al-Thawabta said.

Hamas has also continued collecting taxes, paying public employees and operating parts of Gaza’s police and municipal systems, according to previous reports based on Israeli assessments and sources inside the territory.

The organization’s ability to maintain order and distribute money, employment and aid gives it significant influence over residents whose livelihoods depend on functioning local institutions.

Recent testimony from Gazans has indicated that Hamas operatives have become less visible but continue monitoring the population, detaining opponents and suppressing dissent.

“They are still in control on the ground,” one Gaza resident told Israel’s Channel 12 this month, saying Hamas members often operated in civilian clothing and emerged when they intended to arrest or attack someone.

Hamas seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007 and subsequently built a large civilian bureaucracy alongside its military and internal security forces.

The planned technocratic administration is intended to replace that system as part of broader postwar arrangements backed by the United States and regional mediators.

However, Hamas has continued to reject demands that it fully disarm, leaving unresolved whether a civilian committee could govern effectively while the organization maintains an armed force and an entrenched network of supporters.