Hamas' Tight Grip on Gaza Complicates Plan for Lasting Peace

Israel Wants Militants Out, But They Appear to Still Be in Charge in Current Ceasefire

- 

CAIRO - In neighbourhoods levelled by 15 months of the war with Israel, Hamas officials are overseeing the clearance of rubble in the wake of Jan 19's ceasefire.

The group's gunmen are guarding aid convoys on Gaza's dusty roads, and its blue-uniformed police once again patrol city streets, sending a clear message: Hamas remains in charge.

Israeli officials have described a parade of jubilant Hamas fighters that celebrated the ceasefire on Jan 19 in front of cheering crowds as a carefully orchestrated attempt to exaggerate the Palestinian militant group's strength.

But, in the days since the ceasefire took effect, Gaza's Hamas-run administration has moved quickly to reimpose security, curb looting and start restoring basic services to parts of the enclave, swathes of which have been reduced to wasteland by the Israeli offensive.

Reuters spoke to more than a dozen residents, officials, regional diplomats and security experts who said that, despite Israel's vow to destroy it, Hamas remains deeply entrenched in Gaza and its hold on power represents a challenge to implementing a permanent ceasefire.

The militant group not only controls Gaza's security forces, but its administrators also run ministries and government agencies, paying salaries for employees and coordinating with international NGOs, they said.

On Jan 21, its police and gunmen - who for months were kept off the streets by Israeli airstrikes - were stationed in neighbourhoods through the Gaza Strip.

"We want to prevent any kind of security vacuum," said Mr Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office.

He said that some 700 police were protecting aid convoys and not a single truck had been looted since Jan 19 - a contrast to the massive theft of food by criminal gangs during the conflict.