Hamas deploys police in Gaza areas vacated by Israeli troops

(Patria) - Hamas has in recent days begun deploying police forces and partially paying salaries to some state employees in Gaza City, reappearing in areas from which Israel withdrew most of its troops a month ago, AP reported.

Signs of Hamas's revival in Gaza's largest city underscore the group's resilience despite Israel's four-month air and ground campaign against it. Israel has said it is determined to militarily crush Hamas and prevent it from returning to power in Gaza, the enclave it has ruled since 2007.

In recent days, Israeli forces have renewed strikes in the western and northwestern parts of Gaza City, including areas where salary distributions were reportedly carried out. Four Gaza City residents told AP that uniformed and plainclothes police officers have been deployed in recent days near police headquarters and other government offices, including near Al-Shifa Hospital, the territory's largest.

Residents said they have also seen state employees return and subsequent Israeli airstrikes near makeshift offices. The return of the police marks an attempt to restore order in the devastated city after Israel withdrew a significant number of soldiers from northern Gaza last month, a Hamas official told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The official said group leaders had issued instructions to restore order in parts of the north from which Israeli forces had withdrawn, including preventing the looting of shops and homes abandoned by residents who headed to southern Gaza.

Saeed Abdel-Bar, a Gaza City resident, said a relative had received funds from a makeshift Hamas office near the hospital that was set up to distribute $200 payments to government employees, including police officers and municipal workers.

Partial salary payments of $200 to at least some government employees signal that Israel has not delivered a knockout blow to Hamas, even though it claims to have killed more than 9,000 Hamas fighters. Ahmed Abu Hadrous, a Gaza City resident, said Israeli aircraft had repeatedly attacked the area where the makeshift office is located earlier this week, including Saturday morning.

The strikes came about a month after Israeli military leaders said they had broken the command structure of Hamas battalions in the north, but that individual fighters continued to carry out guerrilla-style attacks.