Covert PA force aimed to leverage Israeli air cover to control Gaza: Report

April 5th, 2024

Awake Goy

APR 4, 2024

The covert PA intelligence force tried to enter Gaza less than a week ago and was thwarted by authorities in the strip

News Desk

A security official in the Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Interior revealed details on 4 March regarding a recent Palestinian Authority-led (PA) incursion into the enclave.

The incursion took place less than a week ago and was thwarted by authorities in the strip, according to a statement from Gaza’s Home Front late last month.

The Gaza Security official revealed to Al-Jazeera on Thursday “the results of the investigation with the leaders of a security force formed by Major General Majid Faraj and arrested in the Gaza Strip,” adding that Faraj “developed a security plan to manage the situation in Gaza, based on three stages.”

“The first stage is food security under the cover of the Palestinian Red Crescent, the second targets the tribes, and the third is comprehensive security. The plan designated the Red Crescent headquarters in Al-Quds Hospital as the headquarters of the security force, with Israeli air protection. Majid Faraj assigned a team of Palestinian intelligence officers to follow up on the implementation of the plan,” the official added.

The officers deployed by Faraj were identified as Nasser Adawi, Sami Nasman, Shaaban al-Gharabawi, and Fayez Abu al-Hindud.

“Members of the force were assigned to collect information from Al-Shifa for Majid Faraj two weeks before the last raid.”

According to a report by Hebrew newspaper Israel Hayom, the incursion was part of an Israeli-approved plan for Fatah affiliates in Gaza to secure the entry of aid into the strip and prevent “diversion” by Hamas.

On Saturday, 30 March, the Fatah-linked elements secured the entry of aid trucks into Gaza, the newspaper wrote.

“The personnel were armed only with batons and no firearms,” it cites security sources as saying, adding that some of them were killed by Hamas.

Gaza’s Home Front said in a statement at the time that it thwarted an incursion by members of the PA General Intelligence Service, based in Ramallah, into the strip. The plan reportedly called to “create a state of confusion and chaos among the ranks of the [Gaza] home front” in an arrangement reached between Tel Aviv and Ramallah “in their meeting in one of the Arab capitals” recently, the Home Front said.

Gaza security forces managed to detain 10 of the operatives and were on the hunt for an unknown number of others who evaded capture. Officials also said Cairo informed the border crossing authority that it was “unaware” of the covert force.

The incursion related to US-sponsored efforts to establish a local governing authority to assume control over post-war Gaza.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled in late February a plan for the “day after” in Gaza, which was more or less in line with the US-backed initiative to reform and strengthen the PA and have it take governorship of Gaza after the war.

This is despite previous statements by the prime minister rejecting the idea of the PA or its Fatah party from ruling Gaza in the future.

“Netanyahu opposes the entry of Fatah on the day after, but not now when the IDF is inside the Strip. It is preferable to position local elements at the forefront to secure the convoys,” one security official told Israel Hayom.

The PA intelligence incursion could also be linked to an alleged plan aimed at “cutting out” Hamas from aid distribution efforts in Gaza, as reported by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on 20 March.