Hamas security officer says the group has lost control of the bigger part of the gas

A senior Hamas Security Officer told the BBC that the Palestinian Armed Force has lost about 80% of its control on the Gaza Strip and that the armed clans are filling the void.

Lieutenant Colonel said the Hamas Command and Control System had collapsed due to months of Israeli strikes that had devastated the political, military and security of the group.

The officer was injured in the first week of the war, which began after Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and has since withdrawn from his duties for health reasons.

He shared several voice messages with the BBC provided for anonymity.

In the reports, the officer draws a picture of Hamas’s internal breakdown and the almost total collapse of security in Gaza, which the group manages before the conflict.

“Let us be realistic here – there is hardly left of the security structure. The bigger part of the management, about 95%, are already dead … All active numbers are killed,” he said. “So, what stops Israel to continue this war?”

“Logically must continue until the end. All conditions are aligned: Israel has the upper hand, the world is silent, the Arab regimes are silent, the criminal gangs are everywhere, the society collapses.”

Last September, the then Minister of Defense of Israel announced that “Hamas as a military formation no longer exists” and that he was engaged in a guerrilla war.

According to officer Hamas, he tried to regroup during the 57-day end of fire with Israel earlier this year, reorganizing his political, military and security tips.

But since Israel ended the truce in March, it is directed to the other Hamas command structures, leaving the group in disarray.

“Concerning the security situation, let me be clear: it completely collapsed. It has disappeared completely. There is no control anywhere,” he said.

“People have plundered Hamas’s most powerful security device, the complex Hamas used to manage gas.

“They plundered everything, the offices – mattresses, even zinc panels – and no one intervened. No police, no security.”

The employee said the consequence of the security vacuum is bands or armed clans are “everywhere”.

“They could stop you, kill you. No one will intervene. Anyone who tries to act alone by organizing resistance to thieves has been bombed by Israel within half an hour.

“So the security situation is zero. Hamas control is zero. There is no leadership, no command, no communication. The salaries are slowed down and when they arrive, they are hardly used. Some die, they just try to collect them. It’s a complete collapse.”

On June 26, At least 18 people were killed when the Israeli drone blow was directed to a regular Hamas police zone An attempt to defend the control of a market in Deir Al-Balah, accusing suppliers of pricing and selling looted assistance, witnesses and medics said.

Israeli military said they had hit “several armed terrorists” belonging to Hamas’s internal security forces.

In this vacuum, six armed groups associated with powerful local clans have emerged as serious contenders for filling the void, according to the officer.

These groups have access to money, weapons and men and are active throughout the gas, but most of them in the south.

One of them is led by Yasser Abu Shabab, a figure who caught the attention of the Palestinian power, based on the occupied West Coast and is a rival of Hamas, as well as regional players – especially after Israel confirmed last month that he had supplied him with a weapon.

The officer confirmed that Hamas had put a great wealth on Abu Shabab’s head, fearing that he could become a unifying figure for his many enemies.

“Hamas would ignore ordinary thieves. People are hungry and (fighters) do not want to provoke more chaos. But this man? If the Hamas fighters find him, they can walk after him instead of Israeli tanks.”

Gaza sources told the BBC that Abu Shabab was working to coordinate with other armed groups to form a joint council aimed at overthrowing Hamas.

A retired Palestinian Security Officer, which was part of the power that fell into Hamas’s military wing in 1996. Following a wave of bombing in Israel, said Abu Shabab’s network was gaining grip.

“Abu Shabab’s group is like an orphanage, which everyone will want to adopt if he or she can undermine Hamas’s rule,” said the employee who now lives in Cairo.

“Publicly all countries deny the links with the armed groups in Gaza. But Abu Shabab met three times the older than a Palestinian intelligence officer and sent reports of confidence to the Egyptians through relatives in Sinai,” he said.

He also said that Abu Shabab “maintains good ties with the Mohammed Dalan camp.” Dalan is a former head of Gaza’s security who has lived in exile since he fell out with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas 15 years ago.

Hamas security officer warned that the group was “ready to do anything” to remove Abu Shabab not because of his current military force, but for fear that he could become a symbol around which all Hamas opponents are gathering.

“For 17 years, Hamas has been doing enemies everywhere. If someone like Abu Shabab can join these forces, it can be the beginning of the end for us.”

As gas is submerged in lawlessness, with entire neighborhoods descending into the gang rule, Hamas is not only under Israeli fire, but increasingly surrounded by rivals from the inside.